Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Greensburg Central Catholic’s Laura Kondas

By: Anthony Difilippo
Monday, April 11, 2022 | 10:07 AM

Laura Kondas

Greensburg Central Catholic softball

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It’s easy to forget covid knocked out the entirety of 2020 high school spring sports season.

This was especially tough for Greensburg Central Catholic’s softball team, which seemed to have turned a corner in 2019.

Despite the year off, the Centurions finished second in their section in 2021, behind the eventual PIAA runner-up, West Greene.

They also claimed their first WPIAL playoff win since 2015.

“It was really cool to see how far we had come last year because we skipped my sophomore year,” senior outfielder Laura Kondas said.

Kondas has been an outfielder her entire softball career but could be getting some infield work for the first time this spring.

Versatility is something that is important to not only Kondas but the team as a whole.

“Bailey Kuhns and Grace Kindel, they both are great infielders, but then when they need to go to the outfield, they are both (good) center fielders,” Kondas said.

Kondas is also versatile when it comes to playing multiple sports.

In the winter, Kondas is a part of a successful Greensburg Central Catholic girls basketball program.

Kondas is going to Drexel University with an intended major of business marketing. She’s also thinking about a minor in psychology.

At the start of her senior softball season, Kondas took some time for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

How did you get started with softball?

I played for a while when I was younger, and then at the beginning of freshman year, my one friend was really big on softball, so I decided to play. I knew the coaches, so I decided to stay with them to see what it was like.

What do you feel like there is left to accomplish both as a team and individually?

I would like to see the team itself grow in general. There’s a good bit of new girls on the team this year that are going to need to be prepared for next year when the seniors aren’t there. I feel like the seniors on this team are big leaders. I’m excited to see a change in some of the younger girls. All the younger girls on the team are great athletes, they’re great players and I just can’t wait to see how they grow throughout this year and how they gain confidence throughout it. I hope for myself that I can continue to gain confidence for the sport as the season goes on. I get very into the games when I’m there, so I’d just like to be able to contribute in ways, and I don’t feel like I have enough confidence to do that as much as I wish right now. I just want to be able to build that for myself.

What is your biggest strength?

Probably hitting. I will admit, though, I definitely freak myself out when I get in the box. But whenever I get a good, solid hit, things happen. I remember when I was a freshman, I didn’t get much time in the field. They put me in one game, and the first time I batted in a game, I hit a triple. Ever since then, they’ve tried to rely on my hitting. I haven’t gotten a chance to do super well in that so far, but I hope that I gain more confidence with it, so I show what I can do in the box this year.

Is there an area where you think you could improve?

Probably nervousness when I get in the box. Hitting’s my biggest strength, but how scared and freaked out I get in the box is probably my biggest weakness. I have it in my head that I need to hit the ball, and then I freak myself out, because if I swing and miss at one, then I do it for the rest. I need to work on not worrying about the first pitch and moving onto the second one.

How has it been, being on two successful teams in high school?

I feel like, especially in basketball this season, it was really cool to see our team come together. We have a lot of seniors, and all those seniors have been playing since middle school. I feel like having that many seniors, it’s hard as underclassmen to feel like you have a place. That showed to be a bit of an issue throughout the season. I feel like towards the end of the season, they started to mature a little bit. Mya Morgan is a sophomore who is our second-highest scorer and rebounder. From freshman year to now, she has just matured so much. It’s nice to see that, so before we’re leaving, we have mature players on the team that will help it progress in future years.

For softball, I feel like we had this losing (reputation). People would say, “Oh, that’s just a team that Central has.” Then we finally started winning and people weren’t expecting it, and it’s just nice to surprise people. I feel like nobody expected it for the longest time, and now we’re almost beating West Greene, we’re playing teams down in Myrtle that beat West Greene when they were in Myrtle. I feel like we have the ability to go very far, and people expect it from us, but not as much as other teams.

What is one thing that people may not know about you?

The fact that I’m going to school in the city. I love the city, and I want to live there for the rest of my life.

Tags: Greensburg C.C.