Bio

Tara was a five-year varsity starter for North Laurel High School from 1995-1999.  During her tenure at North Laurel, she was a varsity pitcher with a career record of 74-12 and 545 strikeouts.  Tara also made major contributions at the plate for the Jaguars. Batting averages for her sophomore, junior and senior years were 0.465, 0.457, and 0.449 respectively.  Her career batting average was 0.380.  She also played first base when she wasn’t pitching for North Laurel, and helped lead North Laurel to 4 regional titles.  She also received the Louisville Slugger TPS Regional All American award for the position of first base as a Senior.  She received All District honors all 5 years of varsity play, All Region honors for 4 of those years, and All State Honorable Mention as a senior.  

After graduation, Tara attended Eastern Kentucky University on a full academic scholarship, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with Bachelor’s degrees in Microbiology and Biology Education.  She has served as a pitching coach for 23 years since she was a freshman in college.  She has instructed hundreds of girls throughout central, eastern, and southern Kentucky over the years. Tara served as pitching instructor to 3 KY High School Hall of Fame players; She was instructor to the 2010 Miss Softball Emily Gaines for 10 years, Morgan Alsip for 8 years, and Hagan Burns for 10 years.  She was an assistant coach at South Laurel High School during their 2011 season, at East Bernstadt Independent School for 2 seasons (2019 and 2020), and has served as an assistant at North Laurel Middle School for the past two years (2022 and 2023 seasons.)