The three-sport Wabasso Rabbits senior recently announced her decision to attend Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato and will continue her athletic career on both the volleyball court and softball diamond.

Carlson played volleyball, basketball and softball at Wabasso, excelling in each sport. If that’s not impressive enough, she’s done it all while running her own baking business in Ave’s Cakes.

And now, the avid baker and three-sport standout is about to become a Viking in a few short months.

“I knew going into senior year that I was between going to Mankato State or Bethany,” Carlson said. “I’ve always loved the town of Mankato and always knew that was where I wanted to go to college, I just wasn’t sure which college. But it was kind of just a decision of if I wanted to play a sport or not.”

File photo by Travis Rosenau Wabasso’s Avery Carlson (2) serves the ball during a Tomahawk Conference volleyball game at New Ulm Cathedral on Sept. 14, 2023.

The 5-foot-7 senior said she knows her decision to continue her athletic career came a little late, especially for volleyball, but she knew she wasn’t ready to see her athletic career end.

“I knew it’s kind of late to make a decision, especially to play volleyball after [the high school] volleyball season, I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to play volleyball or if I kind of just wanted to throw in the towel after my high school career,” she said. “But after my volleyball season, I kind of had a feeling of, ‘Yeah, I don’t really want to be done yet.’ And you’re only young once, you only live once.

“So, it kind of took me a while into January, maybe February to finally make the decision. But that’s when I finally visited the campus, so it was a few weeks after that I decided to play volleyball, but I made the decision to play softball that day.”

Carlson finished her prep volleyball career last fall as an outside hitter with 153 kills, 280 digs and 44 ace serves. Her play was key in helping the Rabbits win the Tomahawk Conference volleyball title for the first time since 2018.

Last winter, Carlson finished her time on the high school basketball court with 1,143 career points.

Photo courtesy of Avery Carlson Pictured is a cake that Avery Carlson made for her cousin and her husband’s (Alison and Mitchell Fulton) wedding on June 17, 2022.

Currently, Carlson is helping lead the Rabbits’ softball team in the Section 3A Softball Tournament as the team’s ace pitcher.

Carlson said in addition to her brother, Will, who also attends BLC and plays baseball, she knows a couple of other area athletes from the Tomahawk Conference attending BLC. Some she’ll be sharing a team with.

“On the softball team, I know Katelyn Tauer, she’s from Sleepy Eye Public, we played her this year twice in a doubleheader against them,” Carlson said. “So it was kind of nice, we played after college registration, so it was actually a few days before … we had registration on [April 6]. So it was kind of fun to toss jokes back and forth to each other and then we competed on that Tuesday.

“On the volleyball team, Ava Munsen from MVL, I’ve played her since I was however old. So we kind of knew of each other, we were not super close or didn’t really know each other personally until we found out that we were both committed to BLC, so it’s kind of cool the connections you make.”

When she finally gets to BLC, Carlson knows some hobbies will have to take a back seat to her school work and sports, one of those hobbies being her baking business, Ave’s Cakes.

When she’s not serving up aces or strikeouts, Carlson’s serving up and selling cakes, cookies and cupcakes. Carlson said she started getting interested in cake decorating and baking desserts in seventh-grade after making cakes with her aunt to sell at a dessert auction in town through Hope Harbor.

Carlson said she also made desserts for family gatherings, further enticing her to start her own business.

“After [that], I realized how interested I was in it,” Carlson said. “So that summer, I kind of just was messing around, so I made a fake business type of deal or a small business, not really expecting it to really do anything, kind of more just a family thing. But I actually got my word out and started getting a lot of orders from community members, so I just decided to make it a real thing. … So it’s been going on for about four-and-a-half years now.”

Moving to Mankato to focus on college means Carlson will have to dial back on her cake, cookie and cupcake baking, but she’s still not planning to hang up her oven mitts.

“I won’t be able to do it during college semesters,” she said. “I’ll do it throughout this summer and then I’ll just have to advertise that I’ll just be taking orders over Christmas break when I’m home and then when I come home for the summers.”

Those interested in Carlson’s cake business can find out more by searching Ave’s Cakes on Facebook or checking it out on Instagram at aves.cakes11.

Juggling multiple sports with schooling during college will be difficult, but Carlson is looking forward to taking on the challenge.

“I’m honestly not really sure what to expect going into it [laughs],” Carlson said. “I know it’ll be more of a challenge just with the time commitments. Obviously, yes, I was a three-sport athlete in high school and I have been taking college classes throughout high school, too, but it’s just a different level of intensity and practice times and all that, it’s just different.

“And not being at home and having all of my family and support system, too. I’ll have my brother, which is nice, he’s also in a sport. So I’m not really going into it expecting it to be super easy, but I also know with some time management and finding some people right away will make it a little bit easier.”

Carlson will be studying business administration at BLC.

Until she steps on the volleyball court and softball field for BLC, Carlson will continue putting her attention into helping the Wabasso softball team carry on in the Section 3A tourney.

The third-seeded Rabbits defeated sixth-seeded Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 7-5 before falling to second-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 2-1 to drop to elimination play. Carlson gave up two earned runs and struck out seven in a complete-game win over TMB. She pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs while striking out six in the loss to RTR.

The Rabbits will next play fifth-seeded BOLD on Saturday at the Marshall Softball Complex.

The Rabbits fell to Edgerton in last year’s section title game and are looking for another chance this season.

“We’re hoping to make it back to the section championship and come out on the other end of it this time, but it’s just kind of a one-game-at-a-time process,” Carlson said.