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Kimberly Reynolds is Division I bound. The LaGrange High junior officially committed to Murray State to play softball earlier this week.

“Any time I talked about a college with my mom or dad it always came back to ‘but Murray State,’” Reynolds said. “It just started to feel like the perfect fit for me. On the first day that colleges could contact me, they reached out and that meant a lot to me”

Reynolds is a versatile infielder that has made her living at third base with the Grangers. Her athletic ability and ability to play just about anywhere in the infield made her a prized recruit for the Racers.

“They really like my athleticism and ability to move around the field, especially in the infield,” Reynolds said. “They like my arm, and they felt my arm was strong and could gun it across the infield.”

Playing Division I ball has been a dream since Reynolds was a little girl, and now to see her dreams become reality is a surreal feeling.

“When I was a little girl I used to watch the girls play on TV and I always dreamed of being them one day,” Reynolds said. “When you are a little girl, you set your dreams high, but you never really think it can be you, but as I got older I started to really believe that I could play Division I in college.”

It’s been a meteoric rise for Reynolds, who put together a stellar sophomore season in 2022 to put her on the radar of coaches across the country. She earned a top 50 ranking in the country for her position, which helped get her name out there even more. 

To get one Division I offer was a dream come true, but Murray State was not her only big-time offer.

Despite other offers coming in, the Racers kept calling her name.

“As soon as they made an offer to me, my face lit up and I remember saying to them “is this real life?’” Reynolds said with a chuckle. “They said yes, this is real life and then offered me a scholarship to come play.”

Murray State is over six hours away in Kentucky, and Reynolds, a self-described homebody, was a bit trepidatious at first about such a distance between her and her family. But Murray State always seemed like a place that Reynolds could call home.

“It just feels like home,” Reynolds said. “I made a visit in October and met with the coaches and the players and they made me feel right at home.”

Reynolds enjoyed the recruiting process but is happy that it has come to its conclusion. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders when she announced her commitment.

“The recruiting process is very tough mentally, and I felt like committing now will let me focus in on softball and better myself without worrying about getting in front of coaches,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds has a short break from softball as her travel ball fall season just wrapped, and she is still over a month out from the next travel ball season, which gives her plenty of time to celebrate her big announcement with her family.

“My fall ball season ended at the end of November so committing during this time is awesome for me because it allows me to celebrate this with my family and take a break from the travel ball world and celebrate for a little while,” she said. 

Now, Reynolds gets to play free. No more late nights worrying about whether she should contact a coach, whether she was going enough to be recruited and whether she was really good enough for Division I ball.