Long before any of them pitched in a college game or played in the Women’s College World Series, Emily Simon, Katie Simon and Larissa Preuitt were three young Sharks teammates who dressed up as characters from “A League of Their Own” for a Halloween tournament.
More than a decade later, the three of them are starting their coaching careers at the same time, only a few months removed from the final games of their college playing days. Emily is the pitching coach at Calhoun Community College. Katie and Larissa are assistant coaches at Hartselle High School, where Larissa starred before a four-year career at the University of Alabama.
Larissa had spent the spring interviewing for jobs in medical and pharmaceutical sales and was not looking for a coaching position when opportunities around the state started finding her. The chance to return home to Hartselle was the one that stuck.
“It is crazy that I’m coaching just a few short months after finishing my playing career at the World Series. Coaching was never really the plan for me, but as I started interviewing for jobs and looking at different positions, it just became really evident that this is what God put on my heart,” Larissa said. “I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to coach in my hometown. Getting to come back and pour into the program and community that poured so much into me is really special.”
Larissa left Hartselle as the 2022 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year after setting a school record with 50 stolen bases as a junior and then breaking it with 86 as a senior. At Alabama, she earned second team All-SEC honors as a freshman in 2023, hit a grand slam against Missouri for her first career home run and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning of a Super Regional win over Northwestern that spring. She appeared in 59 games as a senior in 2026.
The Simon twins took a different route to the college level. The sisters won a Class 6A state championship together at Athens High School in 2022, with Emily earning state tournament MVP and Class 6A Player and Pitcher of the Year honors. They spent two seasons at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, winning two conference championships, before finishing their careers at the University of North Alabama.
Emily led the Lions with a 2.18 ERA and a 9-4 record in 2025, earning ASUN Pitcher of the Week twice, and was named the conference’s preseason pitcher of the year heading into 2026 before an injury limited her to seven appearances. She still posted a 1.79 ERA. Katie went 12-5 with a 2.76 ERA over 114 innings in 2026, threw a no-hitter against Evansville on Feb. 28 and was named a third team All-Conference pitcher.
Now the two pitchers will be teaching the position, Emily at the junior college level and Katie at Hartselle. Neither expected the transition to happen this quickly.
“Eventually, yes, but not this soon. I thought I would finish school, teach for a few years and then think about coaching,” Emily said. “I always thought I wanted to do it, but the question was just when I would actually have the opportunity at a place I wanted to coach. This opportunity came at the right time.”
Katie had not planned on coaching straight out of college at all. The door opened through her old Sharks teammate, and a few conversations with Hartselle head coach Anna Hall settled it.
“I remember praying about my future job and just asking God to open any doors that are for me. Soon after that I received a text from Larissa asking if I wanted to be the pitching coach,” Katie said. “After some conversations with Coach Hall I knew that Hartselle was the perfect fit. The timing of it was so perfect and the coaching staff is truly a dream team.”
All three pointed to the same advantage in their new roles: they were in their players’ shoes not long ago.
“I feel like I will be able to mentor and relate to the girls because I’m so fresh out of playing,” Katie said.
Larissa said her four years in Tuscaloosa taught her as much about leadership, confidence and handling failure as they did about softball, and those are the lessons she is most eager to pass along.
“There are so many things I learned there that I wish I would have known when I was their age, so I’m really excited to be able to share those things with them and hopefully make an impact on them beyond just softball,” Larissa said.
The three still trade stories about their Sharks days, including practices in Madison spent diving after balls in the outfield and the strangers who mistook them for triplets. The Halloween costumes remain the memory none of them can shake.
“One year we dressed up as A League of Their Own, and it was seriously the cutest and most fun thing ever,” Larissa said. “We had such a fun group, and Katie and Emily were both so much fun to play with. It’s really cool to look back on those memories now and see where we all ended up.”
Coaching is only part of a busy year for each of them. Emily, who recently got married, will graduate from UNA in December with a degree in elementary education. Katie is student teaching in Florence this fall and will also graduate in December, after which she plans to teach in Hartselle while continuing to coach. Larissa is set to get married next summer and is considering a master’s degree in teaching.
“Now I honestly don’t know why I didn’t consider coaching sooner,” Larissa said.