WEST SUNBURY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — When Ashley Huffman was a freshman on the Moniteau softball team, she never saw the field.
The next season, she was a courtesy runner for the pitcher and catcher. So good at running the bases, she led the Warriors in runs scored.
Last year as a junior, she finally cracked the starting lineup and established herself as a burgeoning star.
As a senior this spring, she’s had an even bigger breakout season, batting .302 with 23 runs scored. The left fielder has drawn a team-leading 18 walks and has an on base percentage of .479.
Just what every team looks for out of a leadoff hitter.
“That’s all work ethic,” said Moniteau coach Bob Rottman. “She put a lot of work in on her own time and made the all-conference team this year.”
Huffman’s softball journey has been an interesting one.
And atypical.
While most hit the field and dig their cleats into the box at an early age, Huffman started late.
But she had the passion of someone who had played the game for years. She also set some lofty goals for herself.
Playing in college was the biggest one, and very ambitious for a player who hadn’t been able to crack the lineup for her high school team.
Huffman was undeterred.
“Starting out of the gate, I was kind of behind,” Huffman said. “I played travel ball and I put a lot of work in and was just constantly practicing because I wanted to play in college so bad. That was a goal I set for myself about three years ago and I was going to make this happen.”
Several of Huffman’s teammates on her travel team were already committing to play in college. Huffman longed to be like them.
“I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I want to be a part of something like that,’” Huffman said. “You just see the chemistry they have. I watch college games all the time on TV. I hardly ever miss one because I love watching it so much. You just see how much fun those girls have.”
Through all that hard work, climbing the ladder one rung at a time, Huffman reached that goal by signing her national letter of intent last week to play at La Roche University.
Huffman said she wanted to play at Waynesburg College “in the worst kind of way” until one of La Roche’s assistant coaches saw her play in the Battle of the Burgh softball tournament last summer and approached her after a game.
“He said, ‘I want you to talk to our head coach. I think he’s really gonna like you,’ Huffman said. “They came and watched me play the next weekend as well. I never emailed La Roche or anything. Instead of me finding them, they found me. I was very, very excited.”
Huffman was intrigued. She took a visit to La Roche and was sold.
“It just makes me so happy,” she said. “I’m not ready to be done anytime soon — no part of me wants to be done yet — so it just makes me happy that I have these next four years.”
Huffman hopes she still has a few more games in high school.
Moniteau will play rival Karns City on Wednesday in a District 9 Class 2A consolation playoff game with the hopes of keeping its season alive.
“I love softball so much,” Huffman said. “We’re coming up on our consolation game and we’re getting close to the end and it’s my senior year and everything’s coming to a close, so I was so glad I achieve my goal of playing in college.”
To get that opportunity to play at the next level, Huffman had a long road — longer and more difficult than most.
Three years ago when she decided to go all-in on that big goal, she was nowhere near reaching it.
One of the things holding Huffman back was her arm strength — something important for an outfielder.
“My freshman year of high school, I did not have a very strong arm and I felt like that was hindering me from getting one of the starting spots. I felt like I could never compete for one of those spots unless I could get better at this,” Huffman said. “My dad went out and bought this weighted ball and every day in the yard all summer, we would throw the ball back and forth all day long until my arm eventually got strong enough to where I had comparable arm strength to other girls my age.”
There was nothing wrong with Huffman’s speed, both roaming the outfield tracking fly balls and running the bases.
She made a radical change, too, at the plate when she was 14, switching from the right side to the left and learning the art of slap hitting.
It certainly was a lot of work at the start and did not go smoothly in the beginning.
“When I did it in rec ball the first year, I don’t think I got on base more than once or twice,” Huffman said. “It was very, very hard. We had a lot of slapping lessons from former college players.”
One of them was Moniteau graduate Gabby Stewart, who played at Slippery Rock University. Through the same hard work that helped Huffman strengthen her arm, she became a dangerous slap hitter at the top of the Warriors’ lineup.
If there is one thing Huffman wants to improve on at the plate, it’s her pop.
“The next big thing I’m going to be working on this summer, going into college, is becoming a triple threat with slapping,” she said. “Being able to bunt, slap and to hit for power. That’s where my mind is set on now.”
Huffman has a good eye at the plate and enjoys disrupting the pitcher’s rhythm. Slap hitting can do that with the constant movement in the box and the threat of the bunt or swinging away.
“She usually find a way to get on base, whether she’s bunting or slapping and drawing a walk,” Rottman said. “A lot of these pitchers don’t see a lot of slappers anymore. Pitchers, they struggle with that girl moving in the box and being a lefty at the same time. It works to her advantage and she’s developed that. She’s very patient.”
When she does get on base — which is often — Huffman is in her element.
It’s how she got her foot in the door. It’s what she enjoys the most.
“I love running the bases. I love stealing,” Huffman said. “But that’s just me. There’s some girls who dread stealing and stuff like that — it’s their least favorite part of the game. I get so excited to run the bases. If I had to pick one aspect of the game I love the most, it’s that.”
Huffman will play this summer for Pittsburgh Power. She sees it as High School Softball 2.0 — a bridge to help her prepare for the college game.
She already knows she’ll be starting from the bottom rung of the ladder again.
Nothing new. She’s already climbed one. What’s another?
“When you get to college, everybody’s good,” Huffman said. “The teams are bigger as well. Instead of having four or five outfielders, you’re gonna have 12 outfielders on the team competing for three sports, so it’s definitely gonna be tough, especially coming in freshman year. I’m just really going to work on my hitting because I think that’s what’s going to make the difference. I’m just going to really work on that and my on base percentage so I have a chance to play.”
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