SOUTHINGTON – Kim Lynch took a stroll across the Southington High School softball field not too long ago.
Waves of memory came rolling – the friendships, the victories. She was the senior catcher and captain of the 1997 Class LL championship team, the squad that captured state title No. 12 for a program that now owns a national-record 20.
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Come next spring, Lynch will look to build on that legacy, and commence a new era as well. Officially appointed Monday night by the Board of Education, Lynch becomes just the fifth head coach in program that dates back to the late 1970s, and the first former player to take up the reins.
“It’s pretty personal for me,” Lynch said Tuesday morning. “I played on this field, won a state championship in the uniform. It’s exciting. I know what the program standards are.”
Lynch replaces Michelle Boisvert, who stepped down in late summer after two seasons at the helm. Boisvert had also been the assistant coach throughout the 10-year tenure of her predecessor, Davina Hernandez. Prior to that, the Lady Knights had been led by John Bores and program founder Joe Piazza.
Lynch played for Piazza before going on to a Hall of Fame career at Western Connecticut State University. She’s been a lifelong Southington resident.
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“I know it’s a good fit for me and the program,” Lynch said. “I have a lot of roots in the community.”
“It’s always exciting when you have someone who knows the program, knows the history of the program, knows the expectations of the program and knows the community,” Southington athletic director Bob McKee said. “With her background in coaching, I’m exciting to see where she can take the program.”
This is the first head coaching position for Lynch, an area manager for Amazon who turned 48 last week. She was a freshman coach at New Fairfield and a volunteer assistant at Cheshire shortly after graduating college. She later put in half a dozen seasons as an assistant coach and recruiter for WCSU.
She’s also been a clinician and coach with Youth Revolution Camps in Fairfield, FastPitch Nation Park in Windsor and USA Elite in Cheshire.
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“It was a strong pool of candidates; Kim stood out,” McKee said. “I know it’s going to work out. I love the work ethic, what her plan is. We’re happy with the choice, happy with the direction.”
Lynch is the mother of two teenage sons, Jacob and Shea. She makes it clear her approach will be multi-layered. It’s about softball. It’s also about character development.
“I’m really focused on setting a foundation for the players and improving on what’s been there forever,” said Lynch, adding, “We need strong women leaders. That’s one of my focuses: not just on the field, but in the corporations and in the workforce. That’s my mantra when I coach.”
As a player at Western, Lynch was a three-time Northeast Regional All-American and two-time Little East Conference Offensive Player of the Year. She batted .399 for her career and set Western records for slugging average, total bases and doubles.
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At Southington, she inherits a program that won its most recent state crown in 2022. The Lady Knights were thwarted in each of the last two years by Class LL champion Cheshire – in the finals in 2025, in the semis in 2024.
This article originally published at Southington softball hires Kim Lynch as coach, 29 years after she helped Blue Knights win a CIAC title.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
