[16th Region]

April 26, 2012

Rising to Power
Hammonds smacks home run, tosses shutout for Kittens
Rocky Stanley
The Independent The Daily Independent Thu Apr 26, 2012, 06:00 AM EDT

FLATWOODS — Ashland’s softball team rose to the occasion during team leader Kelsee Hammonds’ absence due to mononucleosis.

Now, Hammonds is thrilled to be doing her part again.

In her first pitching start since the illness, the senior worked five scoreless innings and ripped a three-run homer as the Kittens beat Russell 10-0 on Wednesday night.

Hammonds allowed three singles — two of the infield variety — and relied mainly on her defense to register most of the outs in a 65-pitch outing.

“Kelsee comes back with a shutout,” said an enthused Ashland coach Dave Miller. “The rest of the team made plays behind her. Kelsee made pitches when she needed to.”

Hammonds was pleased with the results, and admittedly a bit fatigued. She estimated that she’s about 75 percent back to full strength.

“You use more energy pitching than in the field,” she said. “I can tell my velocity is down. I was trying to focus on spotting my pitches.”

While Hammonds is looking forward to regaining her stamina, her bat never appeared to lose any pop. She hit two homers last weekend in Lexington without as much as one practice prior to her return.

“I got lucky,” Hammonds said of the 10-day layoff. “It wasn’t that bad. I think I had it (mono) a week before I knew about it.”

On Wednesday, Hammonds launched her sixth long ball of theseason with Katie Caron and Megan Griffith aboard to highlight the Kittens’ five-run third inning.

Hammonds, who entered the game with a .610 batting average, also had a run-scoring single in the second and came all the way around on Kat Jackson’s bases-loaded double.

Ashland’s No. 13 state ranking for the second consecutive week is the best in the program’s history. And Miller gave his team more high marks for 10-run road wins over region rivals on consecutive nights.

“It’s huge how the girls responded with 21 runs against Boyd County and Russell,” he said.

Jackson supplied five hits in the two games, while sophomore Sydney Whitt and freshman Megan Griffith went a combined 7-for-11 and scored nine runs.

“It seems like there’s a new star every night,” Miller said. “We run nine decent hitters up there. If four are not on that night, the other five are. Opposing pitchers don’t get a break.”

McKenzie Vanover gave Ashland a 1-0 lead in the first inning Wednesday when she doubled and scored on an error.

The Kittens (16-2) added three hits in the second inning and four in the third while extending the lead to 10-0.

Russell sophomore Mallory Powell took over in relief of starter Molly Baldridge after Hammonds’ home run. Powell worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings, but the Lady Devils couldn’t push across a run against Hammonds to avoid the 10-run mercy rule.

“This is great,” Miller said, “but we can’t be complacent. We had a couple of baserunning mistakes tonight. We have to clean up those type of things and keep working to get better.”

Ashland is scheduled to play at Fairview tonight and then has three days off before hosting Lawrence County on Monday.

Russell (12-9) was coming off a 6-2 win over Lawrence County on Tuesday night.

Powell pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts against the Lady Bulldogs. Hannah Carter and Hope Parsley doubled, while Leslie Harrison tripled and singled. Emma Ison also had two hits.



ASHLAND 145 00 — 10 9 1

RUSSELL 000 00 — 0 3 2

Hammonds and Preece; Baldridge, Powell (3) and A. Gross. W—Hammonds. L—Baldridge. 2B—Vanover (A), Jackson (A), Whitt (A). HR—Hammonds (A).


Congrats to Ashland