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The Tennessee Vols are currently 24-4 and ranked #5 in our latest Extra Inning Softball/JWOS Power Rankings with a major reason why being the outstanding pitching of freshman Ashley Rogers.
The home-grown player is currently 9-1 for the SEC power with a 1.31 ERA, 97 strikeouts in 80 innings and eight complete games in her 13 starts.
Ashley had an amazing senior year—and career—at Meigs County High in Decatur, Tennessee and for this Throwback Thursday edition we got back to July, 2018…
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Extra Inning Softball 2018 National Player of the Year
originally published July 3, 2018 on ExtraInningSoftball.com
Extra Inning Softball is honoring those athletes across the country who have dominated at the high school level including the fall seasons in states like Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma as well as those who have competed this spring and summer.
Last week we featured the 1st Team All-Americans by position; we wrapped up the lists with the 2nd Team All-Americans and today we present the National Player of the Year and conclude our extensive high school honors with the National Coach of the Year… here’s how to find all the previous selections:
2018 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN TIMELINE
- Monday, June 25 – Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-Americans (Pitchers)
- Tuesday, June 26 – Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-Americans (Catchers)
- Wednesday, June 27 – Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-Americans (Infielders)
- Thursday, June 28 – Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-Americans (Outfielders)
- Friday, June 29 – Extra Inning Softball 1st Team All-Americans (Multi-Purpose)
- Monday, July 2 – Extra Inning Softball 2nd Team All-Americans
- Tuesday, July 3 – Extra Inning Softball High School Player of the Year
- Wednesday, July 4 – Extra Inning Softball High School Coach of the Year
Those chosen as All-Americans and Player & Coach of the Year have been selected based on the following factors:
- accomplishments, stats and honors
- importance in the success of the team
- on-field abilities, skills & talent
- off-the-field resume, i.e. academic success, community involvement, etc.
Our list is the deepest and most researched you will find as we feel it necessary to honor all those who deserve to be recognized as an Extra Inning Softball High School All-American.
Congrats to all those who made this year’s lists!
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Extra Inning Softball High School Player of the Year:
Sr. P/IF Ashley Rogers (Meigs County, Decatur, Tennessee)
What goes into selecting a National Player of the Year?
Dominating stats, yes. Successful individual and team seasons, for sure (it helps if the player leads her team into the playoffs or, better yet, captures a championship).
And if there’s something special that adds to the story, then that can push it over the top.
That was the case for our selection this year in choosing Ashley Rogers, the outstanding pitcher/infielder from Tennessee who’s made everyone’s 1st Team All-American list, including ours as a Multi-Purpose Player, as well as lists published by USA Today and MaxPreps.
She also finished her record-setting career as a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year and Tennessee Miss Softball, a three-time Tennessee State champion and a three-time All-State honoree.
Ashley was also chosen as a PGF All-American and will play in the PGF All-American Game on July 27 after her week with the Tennessee Fury Premier team ends.
Ashley is also ranked by Extra Inning Softball as one of the Top 15 of the Extra Elite 100 for the 2018 class as far as being a top college prospect. She’s legitimately one of the top pitchers not just at the high school level, but in club ball too and this past Sunday helped her Fury team finish 3rd at the Boulder IDT.
As a senior in high school in 2018, the Tennessee Vols commit went 29-2 with a 0.20 ERA with 398 strikeouts in 174 innings and also helped herself and her Meigs County team’s cause by batting .463 with eight home runs and 37 RBI.
Accomplishments, stats and honors… you name it, the 5-foot-10 senior has it all on her resume.
Yet despite all her success, it hasn’t come easy for the athlete (and she is a great athlete: in a preview we did spotlighting Elite 100 players including Ashley, we learned that she scored over 2,000 points on the basketball court prior to dropping the sport to focus on softball).
On Father’s Day of this year, the Tennessee native wrote a beautiful tribute to her father, Loring, detailing his shocking and sudden passing from a heart attack right before Christmas in 2016 and the subsequent outpouring of love and support from those who loved and knew him.
“It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever had to go through,” Ashley told us. “I struggled with it for several months, because alongside my mother, he was my biggest supporter.”
“It was difficult not having him there at all my games, for he never missed a single one. It was hard not getting a hug and a ‘good job’ or ‘I’m so proud of you’ after a good game. Even after a bad game it was hard because I would subconsciously prepare myself to get chewed out like I always did, but it never came.”
“He pushed me to my limits and to continuously get better, and that overall made me into the player I am today. If it were not for him I would not be the person or player I am today.”
Another challenge that precipitated her final high school season was that her high school was moved up to a higher athletic division and with that came the uncertainty of how the year would play out.
“The re-zoning of districts moved Meigs up from A to AA classification,” she told Extra Inning Softball this week. “We had won two state championships in A, but the competition in AA at the state level was a whole new ball game. Many people did not think we would be able to win the state championship in AA. Yes, I had my doubts at times, but who doesn’t?”
Then a lingering injury on her pitching arm came back to impact her for most of her last high school softball campaign.
“At the beginning of the season,” Ashley explains, “a stress fracture in my forearm that forced me to sit out all of last summer came back. I was so frustrated, for I knew that if I wasn’t pitching my best, we would not win another state title.”
“The plan was for me to not pitch as much this season and share the load with our other pitcher, but she got hurt during an early season tournament. This forced us to limit our games and drop out of all remaining tournaments. I was pitching every game, and my arm was hurting me very badly.”
The pitcher remembers that she faced two options, neither one of them very pleasant.
“I was torn on what to do,” she adds. “I could either go get it looked at by a doctor and end my high school career or continue to power through and hope it worked itself out.”
Being her senior season, the Vols signee decided to play through the pain, although that meant that she would just participate in games and not be able to practice otherwise.
“Since I was pitching and hitting every game with a hurt arm, I never really pitched or hit outside of games,” Ashley says. “I had to give my arm all the rest it could get. While it sounds amazing not having to practice, it was really frustrating for me. I was a clean-up hitter and I needed to practice and fix my swing because the team needed me to hit good. I couldn’t, though, because it would hurt too much.”
The stress fracture also limited her what she could do… at least by her standards she set for herself.
“When I was pitching in games, some of my key pitches wouldn’t work because the pain from my arm prevented me from spinning the ball like I needed to. My inability to pitch and hit my best gave me the feeling that I was letting my team down, but they had my back through it all.”
What helped her journey to a third straight state title, she believes, was a well-timed break after the regular season ended.
“Right before postseason was about to start,” Ashley continues, “I had about two weeks off due to a school trip and the cancellation of some games because of rain. I pitched maybe one time during those two weeks for I felt rest and a lot of prayer was the best thing my arm could use!”
“Upon my return, my arm felt the best it had the entire season. I still wasn’t 100 percent, but all my pitches were working with almost no pain. From then on, everything was clicking for us. My team was hitting good and playing defense behind me.”
“We went to the state tournament and shocked everyone by staying in the winner’s bracket and, of course, by winning the title. I could not think of a better way to have concluded my high school career!”
Humbly, the 2018 Extra Inning Softball National Player of the Year remarked upon being informed of the news: “It is a big deal to be considered for it, much less win it!”
“This award is such a huge honor and the result of a lot of hard work, but I wouldn’t have gotten it without a number of people. I had such an awesome team and coaches that had my back through every step of the way.”
“My amazing family, as always, was so supportive and encouraging through it all. The support system of Meigs County is honestly beyond compare, and I am so thankful to have been able to wear that uniform for the past four years.”
“Most importantly, I thank God for watching over me and giving me the strength to play the game I love.”
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Other Finalists for 2018 High School National Player of the Year:
- Jayda Coleman, So. SS (The Colony, Texas)
- Alex Echazarreta, Sr. P (Madison, Vienna, Virginia)
- Megan Faraimo, Sr. P (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego, California)
- Montana Fouts, Sr. P/1B (East Carter, Kentucky)
- Kinzie Hansen, Jr. C (Norco, California)
- Lexi Kilfoyl, Jr. P/IF (Academy at the Lakes, Land O’Lakes, Florida)
- Kelley Lynch, Jr. Kelley Lynch (East Coweta, Sharpsburg, Georgia)
- Joley Mitchell, Jr. 3B/C (Rose Bud, Arkansas)
- Payton Tidd, Sr. P/IF (San Marcos, California)
- Danielle Williams, Sr. (Amador Valley, Pleasanton, California)