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05/29/2020 12:00 AMAs soon as Kayla Despres set foot inside North Branford High School, she knew that she wanted to be a starter on the Thunderbirds’ softball team. Kayla wound often go to Head Coach Nick DeLizio and ask for opportunities to prove herself on the field. When North Branford reached the postseason, Kayla not only got an opportunity to show that she deserved to start, she also helped the T-Birds win a championship.
Kayla started every game behind the plate for North Branford during the 2017 Shoreline Conference Tournament, a run that culminated with a 10-5 victory over Hale-Ray in the championship game. She continued in her role as North Branford’s catcher throughout the club’s run to the final of the Class M State Tournament that year.
After earning her starting spot as a freshman, Kayla hasn’t looked back. Kayla, now a senior, remained a fixture at the catcher’s position for the next three years, helping the T-Birds defend their Shoreline Conference title in each of those seasons.
“I knew I was a very competitive person, and I knew the pitchers and had caught for them before. I kept going up to both my coaches and kept asking them to give me a shot. I knew I could do it,” Kayla says. “They finally put me in a game and realized I wasn’t joking. From there, I kept playing and starting, and they realized I was a really good player.”
Kayla made constant improvements in the batter’s box throughout her three seasons in North Branford’s starting lineup. Kayla made the All-Shoreline Conference Second Team in her sophomore year and then earned First Team honors as a junior. Kayla posted a .425 batting average with 34 hits, three home runs, 26 RBI, and 25 runs last spring. She also had a fielding percentage of .980 and allowed just three passed balls all season.
Coach DeLizio was impressed when Kayla worked her way into the lineup as a freshman. As Kayla played more and more games, DeLizio was able to see just how talented she is.
“She’s not afraid of the competition. She wants to be competing at the highest level she can. Not many freshmen come up to a coach and say, ‘I can do this,’” says DeLizio. “Freshman year, I remember a conversation with Kayla when she said that she knew she could play varsity. She ended up getting that opportunity, and she impressed me and her teammates. She did an awesome job. She lived up to it and performed.”
Heading into her senior year, Kayla was selected as of North Branford’s captains alongside fellow seniors Mairead Aiken and Katy Pederson. Kayla says it was an honor to be named a captain and that she always felt like a leader on the team, regardless of whether she had that title. This year, Kayla designed North Branford’s new uniforms that featured both purple and gray stirrup socks.
Although Kayla and her fellow seniors were unable to play their final season, they still received a special sendoff. On May 14, a parade took place at Kayla’s house in which members of the team and the community were able to celebrate the T-Birds’ seniors. Kayla says the parade showed her how much everyone appreciated what she, Aiken, and Pederson brought to the team.
“All the fire trucks came down, and I saw all the girls and even some of my co-workers. Seeing everyone again, because we haven’t seen each other since mid-March, was really cool,” Kayla says. “It was nice to see everyone come together and make a huge memory for me. This parade was better than what would have been done on Senior Night at the school. It was more personalized.”
Kayla started playing softball when she was five. Kayla joined the Shoreline Sting, her first AAU team, at age eight, and she’s has been playing AAU ever since. Kayla got into the sport after watching her older brother Ethan play baseball while growing up. Kayla says that she wanted to be just like her big brother.
It took Kayla some time to settle into the catcher’s position as a youngster. In Little League, Kayla played every spot on the field before deciding that she wanted to be a pitcher. However, she soon realized that the mound wasn’t the place for her.
Prior to one of Kayla’s games, the catcher on her squad was unable to play due to an injury, so she decided to try it out. Once Kayla signed up with the Sting, playing catcher became much more than just a trial run for her. Kayla knew that catcher was the position she wanted to play.
“The Sting needed another catcher and I said I would do it, because I wanted a roller bag rather than a backpack. At the time, that’s what I wanted,” says Kayla. “From there on, I just kept catching and learned to love it and learned to be really good at it.”
Kayla is going to continue her softball career at Albertus Magnus College after she graduates from high school. She will major in education and minor in biology at Albertus.
In her three seasons with the North Branford softball team, Kayla and the Thunderbirds won the Shoreline Conference title every year. For all three of those championships, it was Kayla behind the plate. When she looks back at her time playing for both North Branford and in AAU, Kayla realizes how much the sport of softball means to her, especially since she didn’t get to play this spring.
“Being a softball player has taken a part of my life. Every single weekend, I always had softball. Honestly, I’m proud to be a softball player,” Kayla says. “I made a lot of friends over the years, across towns, all over Connecticut. It’s just become a part of me, and not being able to play just one season threw me off a little bit. I’ve been missing softball, missing my teammates, and the sport in general. Being able to continue my career in college means a lot, because it means my last season wasn’t ended due to COVID-19.”