Oliver leads Foard into state 3A softball title series | Hickory Daily ...

Credit: ROBERT C. REED

Fred T. Foard's Ashley Oliver hones her batting skills during Thursday afternoon practice. Foard will be facing Pikeville Aycock in the opening game of the state 3A softball championship series on Friday night.

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By: Allen Haynes | Record Sports Writer
Published: June 01, 2012
Updated: June 01, 2012 - 12:54 PM

NEWTON,?N.C. ?? After three straight years of getting close to playing in the state softball championship tournament in Raleigh, Fred T. Foard High senior Ashley Oliver is happy to finally get there.

Oliver, 18, has played softball for Foard since her freshman year. Her first two seasons, the Tigers? were out of the state playoffs after the second round. A year ago, they needed a win over Crest to advance to Raleigh but lost.

?We?ve been close so many years,? Oliver said. ?We?ve watched for the past three years, all those teams that are sitting at home now that beat us (in the past).

?Now we finally have our opportunity, and the feeling is now with them (of) what we?ve felt for the last three years.

?We get to finally show people what we?re capable of and have something to prove.?

That chance begins on Friday night 8 p.m. at the Walnut Creek Softball Complex in Raleigh , where the Tigers (25-4) battle East 3A champion Pikeville Aycock (29-2) in a best-of-three title series.

Game 2 is Saturday at 11 a.m., and a third game, if needed, is at 2:30 p.m. that day.

Admission is $8 and parking is $5. If a third game is needed, fans must clear the stadium and pay admission for that game.

Oliver, a third baseman, has had a great season for Foard, batting .500 with nine home runs and 37 RBI.

Her numbers are up from last year, when she hit .359 with eight home runs and 35 RBI, and her play in this year?s state playoffs has been stellar.

?Ashley is obviously our best hitter,? said Foard head coach David Shubert. ?Power-wise she went through a little stretch when she wasn?t hitting home runs but was still getting singles.

?She has never had a big slump or anything like that. She is very consistent and that is big for us.

?Even when people choose to walk her, she doesn?t swing at bad pitches. She goes ahead and walks, and hopefully we have somebody else that can pick it up behind her.?

Oliver caught fire in the playoffs with two hits against Waynesville Tuscola in the first round and had two more in a second round win over Crest.

She hit a two-run home run in a 5-0 win over Asheville Erwin in the third round and scored in the first game of the West 3A Regional series against North Iredell.

But none of those things were as big as her sixth inning two-run blast that gave the Tigers a second series win over North Iredell and a state championship series berth.

?We had hit into four double plays in the game against North Iredell,? Shubert said. ?We felt like if we could get somebody on base that she might be able to knock them in and she did.? But that?s something we have in the back of our mind for her all the time.?

Oliver says she just doesn?t let it get to her when she steps to the plate with the game on the line.

?I?ve always kept a mindset that if I try to hit home runs then I won?t hit them,? Oliver said. ?So especially here lately in the playoffs and going into the championship, I try to keep my mindset to just relax and hit the ball.

?And I hit a whole lot better when my mind is clear when I step in.?

Her mental toughness as a hitter could also translate to the position she plays in the field ? third base (often called the hot corner).

??You?re always going to get something really hot or a slow roller,? Oliver said. ?You?re always on pins and needles at third base. You just have to be ready for anything.

?I like it because it?s quick and you don?t have to have this big thought process.

?You never know what?s going to happen. You just have to be ready at all times.?

Oliver?s softball career will continue locally in college. In November, she signed to play for Lenoir-Rhyne University .

?I always knew that I wanted to play at the college level,? Oliver said. ?You stress forever about it, then one day you find that college you want to attend and that?s how Lenoir-Rhyne was.

?It was one of those match ups, and I heard from people that I just wanted to stay close to home.

?But if they picked up Lenoir-Rhyne and moved it to another state, I?d still be going to LRU. It?s the perfect match for me.?

As for this weekend?s run at Foard?s first state softball title since 1998, Oliver has hopes of leading the Tigers to their fourth state softball crown.

??You don?t really realize until you?re a senior what it means when people say they will follow you,? Oliver said. ?When you?re a senior and you get down on yourself then the team gets down.

?Girls are emotional, so it?s easy to keep them up and easy to tear them down, so the main thing that me and Rebecca (Rowe, the team?s other senior) do is try to reassure everybody during pre-game that we can do this to try and eliminate the butterflies.

?We tell them it?s nothing they haven?t done a thousand times before and to just get out there and do what you need to do.

?Nothing outside the fence matters and everybody knows that we?re a team and not just a single person, because a single person doesn?t win and everybody has each others back, so we just have to go out and do it.?

STATE 3A SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

FRED T. FOARD

Nickname: Tigers.

Record: 25-4.

Current win streak: Won six straight.

Conference: Northwestern 3A-4A.

Head coach: David Shubert.

Team leaders: P Lexi Shubert, 3B Ashley Oliver, C Mackenzie Dziendziel, 1B Rebecca Rowe.

Road to Raleigh: d. Waynesville Tuscola 3-0, d. Crest 2-0, d. Asheville Erwin 5-0, d. Franklin 1-0, d. N. Iredell 4-2, 2-0.

State playoff history: Won state 3A slo-pitch title in 1991, defeating Greenville Conley 5-0 and 4-3; won state 2A/3A/4A slo-pitch title in 1997, defeating South Lenoir 2-1 in deciding game; won state 3A fast-pitch title in 1998, defeating South Alamance 7-0 in deciding game.

ROSTER

No.????????? Player???????????????? Pos.????????? Class

2????????? Taylor Bollinger????????? OF????????? Soph.

4????????? Erynne Chalk???????????? SS????????? Fr.

5????????? ?Jessie Miller?????????????? IF????????? Fr.

6????????? Taylor Brown?????????? ?OF????????? Jr.

8??????? Addie Bolick???????????????? OF????????? Jr.

9?????? Kolleen Spears???????????? OF????????? Soph.

10???? Mackenzie Dziendziel???? C????????? Jr.

11????? Kaitlin Harrill???????????????? OF????????? Fr.

12????? Cierra Shull????????????????? OF????????? Fr.

15????? Olivia Purvis?????????????????2B????????? Jr.

20????????? Michaela Wilson????????OF????????? Fr.

21????????? Ashley Oliver??????????? 3B ????????? Sr.

24????????? Rebecca Rowe????????? 1B????????? Sr.

25????????? Lauren Speagle????????? IF????????? Fr.

30????????? Lexi Shubert????????? P????????? Jr.

Assistant coaches: Shane Johnson, Shannon Plemmons, Robbin Bass.

?

PIKEVILLE AYCOCK

Nickname: Falcons.

Record: 29-2.

Current win streak: Won 26 straight.

Conference: Eastern Carolina 3A.

Head coach: Brad Matthews.

Team leaders: P Brooke Bell, 3B Rachel Jordan, 2B Connor Davis, 1B Meredith Burroughs.

Road to Raleigh: d. W. Carteret 4-0; d. Wilson Fike 12-0; d. Greenville Conley 3-0; d. Havelock 2-0; d. Western Alamance 1-0, 5-4.

State playoff history: Finished third in state 3A in 2009, lost in second round in 2010, 2011.

ROSTER

No.????????? Player?????????????????? Pos.????????? Class

1????????? Lindsey Sutton????????? 2B-OF???? Jr.

2????????? Brooke Bell?????????????? ?P-SS????????? Sr.

3????????? Breanna Brown????????? OF????????? Jr.

5??????? Cierra Harris?????????????? ?CF-P????????? ?Soph.

6????????? Taylor Bradshaw????????? OF??????????? Jr.

7??????? Ivy Hartzell????????????????? ?C-1B????????? Sr.

8????????? Connor Davis???????????? 2B-SS-1B??? Sr.

10????? Misty Edwards?????????? ?2B-OF???????? ?Sr.

11????????? Myleah Jones????????? 1B-OF????????? Fr.

12????????? Reagan Herndon?????? OF-C????????? Jr.

13????????? Savannah Briggs?????? P-OF ????????? Jr.

14????????? Rachel Jordan????????? 3B????????????? Sr.

15??????????Katie Gay???????????????? RF-C????????? Soph.

16 ????????? Meredith Burroughs????? 1B-P????????? Soph.

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