Masuk pitcher Kathryn Gallant has been named the Gatorade Connecticut High School Softball Player of the Year.
Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut MediaKat Gallant of Masuk is the 2021-22 Gatorade Connecticut Softball Player of the Year, it was announced by Gatorade, which is in its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes.
Gallant is the third Gatorade Connecticut Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Masuk High School.
At the time of her selection, the 5-foot-10 senior right-handed pitcher had led the Panthers (24-1) to the Class L state tournament semifinals. Gallant owned an 18-1 record with a 0.72 ERA through 25 games, striking out 267 batters in 125.2 innings pitched, while walking just 31. She also batted .494 with five home runs and 34 RBI. The GameTimeCT Player of the Year in 2021, she was also a First Team All-State selection and MVP of last year’s Class L state championship game.
Gallant has served as an elementary school teaching assistant and has volunteered locally on behalf of youth softball programs and a food pantry. “Kat Gallant is the most dominating pitcher that we faced,” said Megan Lane, head coach at Brookfield High. “She has great movement on her pitches, she mixes speeds—up to the mid 60s—and she seems to be able to put the ball exactly where she wants to. Her ability to hit is equally as impressive.”
Gallant has maintained a weighted 4.83 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball on scholarship at Villanova University this fall.
The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.
Gallant is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award to be announced in June.
Gallant joins recent Gatorade Connecticut Softball Players of the Year Sophie Garner-MacKinnon (2020-21, Hall), Abby Ota (2019-20, Joel Barlow), Maria Hanchuk (2018-19, South Windsor), and Becca Johnson (2017-18, Seymour ), among the state’s list of former award winners.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport. To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.