FREMONT – For most seniors who’ve played their last high school contest, not yet reaching their full athletic potential could be an indictment.
Not for Fremont Ross softball player Braelyn Horn. Though she has played her final game for the Lady Giants, and her untapped potential remains vast, Horn’s playing career is far from over.
Braelyn Horn
Thursday Horn held a signing ceremony as she has committed to continue her softball career at Lakeland Community College, in Kirkland, Ohio, east of Cleveland.
“It’s kind of crazy. At our last game, everybody is saying ‘This is it,’ and I’m looking around thinking, ‘I still got this to do,’” Horn said. “It’s something that I’ve always talked about, always wanted to do it. Lakeland is giving me the opportunity to go out there, to the next level.”
Ross softball coach Tony Hill said Horn is primed to thrive as a Laker.
“I don’t think she’s peaked as a player yet,” Hill said. “Once she gets to the next level, and all she has to worry about is school first, then softball, she might be twice the player she is now. That’s just a credit to how talented she is but also how raw she is too.”
Horn was a four-time varsity letter-winner for the Lady Giants, setting the program record for steals in a season (30) as a junior.
Her senior season was limited by a knee injury which held her out of all but nine games. In those nine games, however, her impact was such that she still managed to be named honorable mention all-district. She hit .513 with three doubles, a triple and a home run, with nine RBIs.
“In my opinion, she would have broken the single-season hit record, the highest batting average in school history, all these things,” Hill said. “She might have broken stolen bases again. She is just going to continue to get better.”
And Horn, who also played two varsity seasons of basketball, won’t be alone in Lakeland. Last week Morgan Englund also signed to Lakeland, as has another teammate for their club team, the Ohio Lightning.
“We’re going to live together and they’re already talking like, ‘We’re all going to sleep in Braelyn’s bed.’ ‘Yeah, no. Not happening,’” Horn said. “It’s going to be a breath of fresh air. I’ll be somewhere new, but I’ll also have someone from home.”
Horn said she plans to earn an associates of science degree at Lakeland before continuing her education, and hopefully softball career, elsewhere. Though undecided, she is considering becoming a pediatric nurse or physical therapist.
“I want to help people,” she said.
The coaches at Lakeland made Horn feel so at ease on campus, she said it immediately felt like home. Horn recognized the irony of coaches being so eager to have her considering all the coaches present at her signing, including athletic director Chad Berndt, all good-naturedly joked about wanting, at one time or another, to throttle her.
So how long until Lakeland’s coaches reach their limit with her?
“I don’t know,” she laughed. “I’ll give them a couple weeks and then we’ll see.”