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Plano East pitcher Holly Kern named Dallas-area Softball Player of the Year

Holly Kern has always felt at home on the diamond. Even when she was the only girl on a boys baseball team when she was in elementary school.

“I just kind of fit in with them,” Kern said. “I have two younger brothers, so I’m always around boys. It was just like normal, just playing with the boys.”

What’s normal now is for Kern to dominate on the softball field.

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The Plano East pitcher followed up an all-state junior year by going 33-4 and leading Dallas-area pitchers in wins as a senior. Kern was named District 8-5A MVP, ranked among the area leaders with 10 home runs, hit .365 with a team-best 47 RBIs, and helped nationally ranked Plano East reach the Class 5A state semifinals for the second time in her high school career.

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“She is a student of the game, and she is very savvy,” Plano East coach Karen Kalhoefer said. “Every year, she got better and better.”

Three of Kern’s wins came against nationally ranked Plano, and Kern also beat regional finalist Hebron three times — including twice when Gatorade Texas Softball Player of the Year Heather Stearns was pitching. In Plano East’s 5-4 win over Hebron in the 5A Region I final, Kern came within four outs of a no-hitter and hit a three-run home run.

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Kern didn’t start pitching until she was 14. Early on, not everyone was impressed.

“On the select team I was on, I was always kind of told I was never going to pitch DI, so we left that team,” Kern said.

Now, she may get a chance to hit and pitch at the Division I level after signing with Texas.

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“Holly Kern is an athlete who has the ability to dominate in the pitcher’s circle,” UT coach Connie Clark said when Kern signed. “She swings with power and can play first base in addition to her pitching duties.”

Kern plans to major in engineering. She has already engineered quite a career.