By Kyle Daubs

Karah Moore will admit she is a homebody. 

That is why staying close to home was such an easy choice that she didn’t need to wait until her senior year to make it. 

And the reason the Charleston High School junior pitcher verbally committed to play softball for Lake Land College in 2024. 

“After hours of thought and discussion with my family and friends, I decided that it is the place I’m meant to be,” said Moore. “They’ve always had very talented teams in past years and I have been fortunate to be on travel and high school softball teams that have crazy amounts of talent up and down the roster. I’m super excited to be a future Laker. I am so excited to already be able to say that I am playing college softball. It has always been a dream of mine and I cannot believe that it is going to come true.”

Moore was a Second-Team All-State and First-Team All-Apollo selection last season for the conference champion Trojans. Moore posted an 18-0 record during her sophomore season, threw a perfect game, had a 1.61 earned run average, and struck out 103 batters in 125 ⅔ innings pitched. For her career, Moore owns a 23-2 record, 146 strikeouts, and a 1.74 earned run average. 

“She is a beast in the circle and always controls her emotions,” said CHS coach Blain Mayhall. “She has trust in her defense and throws knowing they have her back.  Obviously, she is a great pitcher, but I’m equally impressed with her progression up to bat.  She has continued to work her tail off and it shows in the batters box as well as the circle.”

As a hitter, Moore owns five career home runs, 31 runs batted in, and a .416 batting average. 

“She is a wonderful example of what hard work will do for an athlete,” said Mayhall. “Too many kids nowadays feel like they are entitled to start and that coaches should hand them everything.  But, that’s just not reality.  Karah has always understood that she had to put in the time to improve and that nothing is guaranteed.  She has earned every bit of playing time for us and deserves all the credit in the world for that.” 

After last year, Lake Land coach Nic Nelson invited Moore for a college visit. Moore said she wasn’t thinking about college at the time. She had some schools interested in her, specifically Frontier College out of Fairfield, but, after her visit, she didn’t need to wait – nor let this season play out to make her final decision. 

“I knew I had so much time and it never really occurred to me how fast high school can go by,” said Moore. “I took a few months and really thought about if I felt that it was the right fit for me and I truly believe that it is the best fit for me as I approach college. I also know that Coach Thornburg can work well with me and my pitching as I went to many of his pitching clinics when I was younger.”

Moore joins her older brother as a college athlete in the family. Jonah, a CHS grad as well, played for the CHS baseball team and eventually pitched at the collegiate level for Greenville University. 

Despite both players eventually being considered college athletes, Moore said that her older brother has always supported her. 

“My brother has always told me since I got into high school that I was the best athlete of the family already and we would always laugh about it,” said Moore. “I thought it was a joke at first but it started to become more of a serious statement by my brother and family as my talent continued to grow.”

Moore said that her older brother is specifically the reason that she wanted to become a pitcher. 

“I spent countless hours when I was younger at the baseball field watching my brother play and seeing him pitch and how much he loved it and the game made me want to try it out,” said Moore. “I never would’ve thought that I’d be where I am today. My brother also is my biggest motivator as well, he pushes me harder than anyone else around me because he knows I always have more in me. He has always been the absolute best role model. He has always been the person I have looked up to and he has always been one of my biggest supporters.”  

Another one of her biggest supporters is excited for the future and for the fact that he can watch games just a few miles away. 

“I am very excited for Karah,” said Mayhall. “She will be a great addition for Lake Land and Coach Nelson on and off the field.  I’ve known Karah since she was nine and have been blessed to have coached her since seventh grade.  She has blossomed into a fantastic leader for our program.  I’m so excited to have her stay close so I can continue to see her play in person.  I’m also lucky that she will be around for another year, not only as a player but as a student assistant with our CMS team.  The younger girls sure can learn a lot from what Karah has done to get to where she wanted to go.  I will forever be a Karah Moore fan and couldn’t be more proud of the player/person she has become.”