MOUNTAIN VIEW — A mainstay on the diamond for the Green River High School softball team the past three seasons will be taking her talents to the D1 level in 2025.

Kodi Jean Allred, a senior at Mountain View High School and a shortstop/catcher for the Green River Lady Wolves, signed her letter of intent last week to play for the University of Montana.

“Montana has always held a special place in my heart,” Allred said. “We went to Montana for a baseball tournament for my brothers when I was younger, and I just fell in love with the natural beauty. This past summer, me and my mom went to a tournament up in Kalispell, and on the way back, I told my mom, ‘I’m going to school here.’ I guess it’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid to live in Montana, now I get to play the game I love there as well.”

The Lady Griz, based in Missoula, Montana, play in the Big Sky Conference. Montana posted a 17-33 record in 2024, and new head coach Steph Ewing said she expects Allred to be a good fit for the program.

“It’s definitely a mutual excitement on all parties,” Ewing said. “What a fantastic young lady, and a great family – we’re really excited to have a dynamic athlete like her in a Griz uniform.”

A 3-time All-State and All-Conference selection for the Lady Wolves, Allred finished her 2024 campaign with a .573 batting average, including 13 doubles, four triples, three home runs and 28 RBIs. A patient hitter, Allred struck out just five times all season.

In the field, Allred finished with a .978 fielding percentage, committing just three errors on 134 chances, numbers not lost on her new coach, who witnessed Allred’s fielding prowess first-hand at a U of M prospect camp.

“The kid plays like Pete Rose – she’s just all-out, all the time,” Ewing said. “She has that really high softball IQ, and she made some phenomenal plays – when we were in our camp, she made some incredible plays at shortstop, just on the run. She can throw from multiple arm slots, she did a great job of leading from behind the plate – the catcher has to be the quarterback, and she handled that well. To me, she’s someone who’s coming here with a really high ceiling. Once we get her in our player-development program, I think she’s going to continue to grow offensively as a player, and for me as a coach, that’s what you’re looking for.”

Allred grew up with an intense love of baseball – her older brothers Gus and Hank were always playing, so naturally, she wanted to play, as well. The two brothers eventually went on to become standouts for the Evanston Outlaws, and the youngest Allred was determined to follow suit. She played Little League baseball in the Bridger Valley, cutting her teeth on the fields of Sweetwater County, Uinta County and Kemmerer, before following her brothers to Evanston and the Outlaws baseball program.

“Baseball was the very beginning of my whole journey,” she said. “I started playing in Bridger Valley Little League when I was 9 with my two older brothers. Just like them I moved onto the Little League program in Evanston. From there, I joined the Outlaws. When I played for them, I told myself I’d be the first woman to play D1 baseball! However, I took a turn in my life when I decided to play for a small softball program. My first-ever softball team changed my mind entirely and I fell in love with the game. From there I began telling myself I’m going to play D1 softball.”

In addition to playing for the Lady Wolves, Allred has honed her skills playing for club teams, such as CVSC, out of Logan, Utah, and Wicked 307, out of Gillette. If one were to add up all the miles Allred and her family have traveled to pursue her passion, a conservative estimate would put you over 125,000 miles.

Did we mention she also plays basketball?

“For her to be able to come and do softball stuff every day [at Montana] is going to be the biggest change for her right off the bat,” Ewing said, laughing. “She travels hours and hours and hours to be able to play the game that she loves, so I’m gonna have to kick her out of our indoor cages, I know it. It will be like, ‘You’re going to need to go to bed, or go do your schoolwork.’ Because she’s not going to know what to do with having four indoor cages readily available for her all the time. It’s going to be like Christmas every day for her.”

Asked her impression of her new team following her official campus visit last fall, Allred said the girls definitely play at a different level.

“When we got to Missoula, we were told to watch a practice,” she said. “The practice that day was an intersquad scrimmage, so I was able to watch the girls perform in a live game setting. The way they played was nothing I’ve seen in person before. After the practice, I was asked to say a few words to the girls and I said ‘You guys play like butter! It’s amazing!’ The girls laughed and thanked me, that’s the biggest compliment to a softball player, that’s for sure.”

Coach Ewing said many of her players got to know Allred at camp, and the feeling was mutual; the Wyoming native made an impression, and it said a lot about her character.

“The girls on our team, they all worked the camp, and at the end of it, I said, ‘I want to know what players you like,’” Ewing said. “The same name kept coming up, and it was Kodi. The questions she asked, and the way she treated people, how invested she was – the character part of things, for her, is a no-doubter. She comes from a wonderful family, and she is just a great young lady. She checks all the boxes, that’s for sure.”

When Kodi Jean arrives in Missoula next fall, she’ll be the third Allred to play collegiate ball – Gus currently plays for the University of Northern Colorado, and Hank has one more season at Porterville College – a JUCO in southern California – where he’s in talks with a couple of different D1 schools about continuing his career. Kodi said she’s proud to follow in her brothers’ footsteps.

“They have taught me all I know about the game,” she said. “After a difficult game, I can go to them, and they show me the areas I can improve on, as well as be a shoulder for me to fall on. After the great games, they celebrate with me and congratulate me. I owe my brothers everything when it comes to the game we share a love for. I am very proud to say I get to be like my older brothers.”

The Allreds’ dad Scott said his kids’ success is all them – he and his wife Kodi (called Momma Kodi by all of Kodi Jean’s teammates) just provide support and encouragement.

“All we have done for our kids is really nothing more than the job we as parents are supposed to do to set them up for success,” he said. “All of the talent, grit, determination and hard work is theirs, and theirs alone.”

Scott went on to say that a parent’s greatest achievement is to watch their kids succeed, in whatever they set out to do.

“Talent is one of the most fragile things,” he added. “If it’s not pushed, the flame dies; push too hard, it burns out. It’s a delicate balance. For all three of our kids to be doing so well academically – and also get to play the sports they love – truly fills our hearts with more joy than I can describe.”

For her part, Kodi Jean has one more season with the Lady Wolves in the spring before she heads off to Missoula, and she’s looking forward to one last chance at a state title.

“I miss the Green River girls during the offseason, so it’s always great to come back,” she said. “The game has changed in Wyoming – there is a regional tournament this year that we have to place in to make it to state. I know my team and I will step up and push ourselves to solidify our spot at state. I will miss my Green River team very much after this year. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am today, softball wouldn’t be a part of my life. I couldn’t be more proud to be a Green River Wolf! I will miss the laughs and memories I have with these girls.”

While Green River will have some big shoes to fill once Allred is gone, their loss will be Montana’s gain.

“You’re never recruiting a kid for who they are today – you’re recruiting a kid for what you’re projecting them to be down the line,” coach Ewing said. “For me, I just think that Kodi’s work ethic alone – as well as her knowledge of the game, her passion for the game – I think the sky’s the limit for the kid.”