FAYETTEVILLE — The battle for a 7A/6A-West Conference softball championship came down to the wire this season. In the end, it was one team’s refusal to quit and constant competitiveness that made the difference in a title.
Fayetteville might not have been viewed as the favorite from the start, but time and time again the Lady Bulldogs found ways to win. Winning five of its 11 conference victories in come-from-behind fashion, Fayetteville was truly the team that never said die.
And Ashlye Pool was the player who epitomized this style better than anyone.
Pool, a senior pitcher/first basemen for the Lady Bulldogs, was the shining example of Fayetteville’s fight-to-the-finish season. Giving the Lady Purple’Dogs strong pitching efforts night in and night out, while also helping out her own cause with a big bat, Pool developed into one of the most complete all-around talents in the 7A/6A-West.
Her play was a big reason why Fayetteville shot to the top of the conference, and it’s also earned her the honor of All-NWA Media Big 7 Softball Player of the Year.
“It’s obviously rewarding knowing you and you’re team worked hard and got the top,” Pool said. “It was literally, for lack of a better word, a dogfight. Har-Ber had such great young talent, Bentonville is always at the top. Rogers was a really good team and Rogers Heritage had a new coach. “So it was kind of an unexpected season and we didn’t know what to think going in. But we just tried to play our game. That’s how you want to play ball and that’s how I’ve tried to play ball my entire life. If you can better yourself and help better your team then you’ll end up further along than everybody else. And I think that showed at the end of the season.”
Pool has made quite a transition during her three years in the Fayetteville program. Primarily a catcher/first baseman as a sophomore, she became the Lady’Dogs’ top pitcher last season as a junior.
This year, her pitching improved to top form — compiling a 17-5 record with a 1.83 earned run average — while also keeping up pace with her offense. At the plate, Pool was one of Fayetteville’s top hitters, batting .400, with 23 runs batted in and eight runs scored.
“She’s improved every year for us,” Fayetteville coach Jason Shirey said. “Her first year she caught and played first base and did a little bit of pitching. Last year was predominantly pitching and first base. And there’s been a growth process and a transition to primarily pitching and a little bit of first base this year.
“We were able to plug her in the middle of the lineup and she drove in a lot of runs for us. And it was just another luxury for me as a coach that I knew where certain people were going to be and we could just run with it. So I was very happy with her production this year and with her maturation from where she started as a sophomore. It’s just been fun to watch.”
Pool’s love for the game of softball is obvious, and her goals in the game are clear. Right from the start playing at the next level has been the objective, and that dream will become a reality when she continues her career next season at Crowder College.
“The goals I’ve had since I’ve started playing softball was to go and play at the next level in college,” Pool said. “And in order to do that you have to become sort of a complete package because you never know what to expect from colleges. So hitting wise it was easy for me to say, help yourself out here and put some runs on the board here yourself so that when you go back in the circle it’s not 0-0.”
Fayetteville finished as a state semifinalist after dropping a hard-fought 3-1 decision to eventual state champion North Little Rock in the Class 7A Tournament. Despite the loss, Pool looks back on the season with fond memories.
“I’m so proud of the way the team came together,” Pool said. “After our sophomore year we lost so many key players and great leaders. And it was hard in our junior year to come back and re-establish that. But this year we came back and even though it didn’t end the way I would have liked, we ended with so much fight.
“Being a senior, I’m really sad it’s over. But I’m really proud with how we fought the entire time. We didn’t let anybody just roll over us and that’s something we’ll always we proud of.”