Fierce; kind; strong; curious. This is how Keene State softball head coach Carrah Fisk Hennessey described senior captain Sara Cote.
“She’s always led by example, mentally, physically and emotionally,” Hennessey said. “100% of what she has, she puts into Keene State softball.”
Cote is set to begin her fourth season with the Owls this spring, coming off a successful junior season in which she reached base a team high 13 times in a row, stole a careerhigh eight bases and earned a Little East Conference (LEC) Player of the Week honor, according to the athletics website. She was also selected for the All-Little East First Team.
The Connecticut-native did not begin her athletic career in softball, however. She started out playing travel soccer as a kid, but after watching her younger brothers play baseball, she decided to switch gears — and quickly fell in love with softball.
“I love that softball has different aspects to it. I think that the game is very versatile in skill and what you need to make a full team,” she said. “I think it’s really cool that you can have an individual skill in the game, but still be working as a team.”
This love for the sport brought Cote to play at the collegiate level at Keene State. In one word, Cote summed up her experience competing for the Owls as “family.”
“We have each other’s backs, like no other dynamic I’ve seen before. We’re friends off the field, but also teammates on the field,” Cote said. “I think that we bond over something as a whole, which makes us feel like we can rely on each other.”
Hennessey said Cote plays a major part in maintaining a positive team dynamic, on and off the field. ““Everybody looks up to her because of her play on the field,” she said. “She has an uncanny way of making every single person feel comfortable when they’re off the field.”
She mentioned that these leadership qualities grew in Cote as she moved through the program, allowing her to no longer hide behind her athletic talent.
“She came in, she was very shy and very timid and she let her play do the talking,” Hennessey said. “Each year that we’ve been together, growing this program from the inside out, she has gotten more vocal, more confident, more comfortable. And while her play still does the talking, she also does the talking now.”
The road at KSC for Cote has not always been smooth-sailing; right before the start of her sophomore season, Cote tore her ACL and meniscus, rendering her unable to compete. However, she said the injury only reinforced her passion for softball. She was able to return to the field for her junior season one year later.
“It definitely made it harder. It made me want to work harder,” Cote said. “It just made me realize how much I love the sport, how much I want to be on this team and how badly I want to win games and be able to physically do everything that I could do before.”
As she prepares to enter her final season with the Owls, Cote said she credits KSC softball with boosting her confidence on and off the field, as well as giving her the necessary tools to hopefully lead the team to a winning season.
Alongside her co-captain Grace Hallett, Cote is optimistic about the team’s prospects this spring. “I think that between her and I, we might be able to have a really good season and I’m really grateful that she’s my co captain,” Cote said.
Cote added, “I think I’m most looking forward to watching the girls after me continue to bring the same energy, the same respect and the same togetherness that we have now. I think that is really going to grow.”
Caitlin Howard can be contacted at
choward@kscequinox.com
“She has an uncanny way of making every single person feel comfortable when they’re off the field.”
CARRAH FISK HENNESSEY
KSC SOFTBALL HEAD COACH
