When Kaylin Worley first stepped onto a t-ball field as a young girl, she couldn’t have imagined where the game would take her. However, something clicked. A glove on her hand and dust on her cleats felt right, like something she hadn’t known was missing until she found it.
Now a senior at Grant Community High School, Worley closes out her high school softball career not just as a team captain and all-conference outfielder, but as a record-breaking force whose name is etched into the program’s history.
At age five, Worley joined the Grant Dawgs travel team. Later she played for the Illinois Lightning in 2023.
Her father, who she saw as a mentor, was also her coach during those early travel ball years. Worley says this was the period she began to grow significantly as a player.
Her high school career kicked off with a standout freshman season – one of her best at Grant. That year, she earned All-Conference honors as an outfielder.
But while her game was taking off, life off the field brought unexpected challenges. In 2022, her parents divorced, straining her relationship with her father, the same man who had coached and shaped her early career. Eventually, she said that working through those changes strengthened not only their relationship but also her performance on the field.
That resilience carried into her junior year, when Worley was named team captain. The role came with both honor and pressure.
“I’m asked to do a lot more than the rest of the team is, and with that, there’s a lot more responsibility outside of school hours,” said Worley.
Being captain gave Worley the opportunity to lead both her high school and travel teams. Head coach Chris Van Alstine recognized her leadership within the program.
“Kaylin has done so much for this program and has made my life much easier as a head coach,” said Van Alstine.
Heading into her senior season, Worley had eight career triples—just six shy of the school record of 14. She didn’t just break the record; she surpassed it, finishing with 16 career triples. She also broke the single-season triples record with eight, surpassing the previous mark of seven. The milestone had not been touched since 2016.
Inspired by the Women’s College World Series and driven by a dream to play at the next level, Worley’s hard work paid off. She earned a softball scholarship to the College of Lake County. After CLC, she plans to transfer to a four-year university to continue both her academic and athletic careers.
As Worley leaves behind the high school dugout for college diamonds, she does so with her name in the record books, her team behind her, and her dreams ahead.
