ROYAL CITY — When Ali Stanley graduated from Covenant Christian School in the spring of 2023, she anticipated playing collegiate softball locally in Moses Lake, suiting up for the Big Bend Vikings. 

That plan changed after Big Bend’s 2024 season was canceled in November, and Stanley shifted to a new path; coaching.

“It was really difficult for me to accept that I wasn’t going to be playing this year, but this has been the closest thing I can get to it and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Stanley said. “These girls have helped me become a better person too, and I give everything I have to them.”

After the word of Big Bend’s season being canceled began to spread around, Stanley was approached by Lisa Lawrence — head coach of the Royal High School softball team and Stanley’s coach with the Moses Lake Rattlers, a summer travel softball team that brings in players from various high schools around central Washington —– to see if the recent graduate would be interested in filling in a role on the coaching staff.

Lawrence said she was seeking another assistant coach to help out with the Knights this season, with assistant coach Savannah Weyns out on maternity leave.

“Ali’s an incredible athlete and person, and I’ve coached her for a lot of years,” Lawrence said. “When I started thinking ‘This Big Bend season isn’t going to happen, I wonder what she’s going to do with her spring?’ I thought she’d be the perfect person.”

Stanley jumped at the opportunity.

“I took it right away without any questions,” Stanley said. “Lisa was an amazing coach for me – just to be able to come and help her, and learn from her knowledge as a coach also helps me with my game; just to hear and play the game from a different side of the field instead of being a player.”

While coaching was something Stanley said she saw herself doing in the future, she didn’t expect to be in the dugout in that capacity less than a year after her high school graduation. Stanley, who said she had playing softball for a decade at her signing ceremony in 2023, played softball for Moses Lake High School, earning numerous accolades including first-team all-league outfield nods in the Columbia Basin Big 9 her junior and senior years and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award her junior season.

Part of that interest in coaching stemmed from Stanley working at The Six Training Facility in Moses Lake, where she said she assisted in training at camps.

“I started to really like it, so when Lisa asked me I jumped at that opportunity,” Stanley said. “Especially coaching under her, because she was one of the most amazing coaches that I had.”

Even with her first year of college softball being canceled, Stanley is still learning more about the game — this time from a coach’s perspective.

“She’s smart, she absorbs things – her dad was a coach, coached in the Rattlers for a lot of years,” Lawrence said. “I think she’s heard a lot of the coach talk from his point of view, and with having a passion for it, I think she’s learning and growing in those ways.”

While Moses Lake and Royal didn’t meet on the field much during Stanley’s high school career, there was some familiarity with members of the Royal roster; she said she grew up playing with seniors Randi Allred and Raegan Wardenaar, and sophomore Jill Allred played under her dad with her younger sister, Abby Stanley.

“It’s kind of like a full-circle moment,” Stanley said. “It was really surreal to come out here and start coaching them, especially kids that I played with. It’s a little bit of a different experience, but it’s been amazing.”

Being in high school less than a year ago helps her connect with the players as well.

“She’s a great coach and she brings a real serious level that you might not expect from a 19-year-old, but she’s also on that peer/mentor level that really connects with these girls that an older coach really doesn’t connect on,” Lawrence said. “They can look at her eye-to-eye and see that she’s been through what we’re going through right now.”

“I’m the same age as them, I went through most of the stuff that they’re going through,” Stanley said. “I know them super well because I’ve grown up with them … I think that’s also helped them a little bit, having someone that is almost the same age as them.”

Stanley said her most significant contribution has been helping players get past mistakes on the field.

“I think the biggest thing is being able to adjust from your errors or mistakes that you have done,” Stanley said. “It took me a long time to be able to learn from my mistakes – as a softball player you make a ton of mistakes. This game’s super hard and it’s super hard mentally. Just being able to help these girls and tell them that ‘This game’s hard and you’re going to make mistakes – what you do after is the most important thing.’”

Lawrence noted her ability to work with a variety of players in different positions on the field.

“At Moses Lake and over the years in travel ball, she played outfield and infield and she’s an excellent hitter,” Lawrence said. “She also instructs and works out at The Six, so she’s got that background. What’s awesome about her as a coach here is that I can send her pretty much with any group.”

While Big Bend’s season may have been canceled, Stanley is still taking courses at the college and looking forward to playing for the Vikings under new head coach Kiera Broehl in 2025.

“I’m super excited to play for coach Kiera (Broehl) that’s coming in,” Stanley said. “She seems like a great person; I think I’ve already learned a lot from her.”

Royal opens the 1A State Softball Tournament on Thursday against No. 9 seed Klahowya at Columbia Playfields in Richland. First pitch is at 3 p.m.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com. 

    Ali Stanley looks on during warm-ups of a May 10 practice in Royal City. Stanley said she had interest in pursuing a coaching career once she concluded playing collegiate softball, but got a taste of the action a little earlier than expected.
  

    2023 graduate Ali Stanley makes contact with a pitch during a game against Eastmont in the 2023 season. Stanley was a two-time first-team all-league outfielder with the Mavericks, and the Columbia Basin Big 9 Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.
  

    Royal Assistant Coach Ali Stanley, in gray, works with Royal players on fielding ground balls during a May 10 practice. Royal Head Coach Lisa Lawrence praised Stanley’s ability to work with a variety of position groups.