As a little girl, Kalei Harding would make trips to Knoxville to watch her favorite softball player, Raven Chavanne, compete for the University of Tennessee’s Lady Volunteers.
These days, Harding is among those inspiring young softball players with the chance to go even further than the college ranks.
The Murfreesboro native played from 2021 to 2024 at Florida State — she helped the Seminoles to a pair of national runner-up finishes at the Women’s College World Series to cap her freshman and junior seasons — and this past season, she was part of the staff at Mercer, which won the Southern Conference tournament to earn the program’s first NCAA Division I tourney berth. The Bears then reached the finals at the double-elimination Gainesville Regional before falling to the host Florida Gators, who advanced all the way to the eight-team WCWS in Oklahoma City.
She’ll get the chance for a homecoming of sorts this weekend as the newly minted Athletes Unlimited Softball League hits Tennessee, with Chattanooga’s Frost Stadium hosting three games Friday through Sunday (one each day) between the Blaze — whose roster includes Harding as an outfielder — and the Talons.
“I looked up to players like Raven Chavanne, Kelsey Stewart and Aleshia Ocasio growing up,” Harding said. “Getting to share the same field with and against them is surreal. To realize young girls might see me the way I once saw them is such a full-circle moment, and it gives me something other than myself to play for.”