She has a .256 batting average, 18 RBIs, commanding skills at
shortstop and, most importantly, she is a team player. She is
sophomore Ashlee Heady.

Heady has played softball for 15 years, beginning when her
father first encouraged her, as a child. “My dad really encouraged
me because he played baseball. I kind of had a knack for it,” said
Heady. “I was always picking up a ball and throwing it around.” It
was clear that she had a natural ability for softball at a young
age and that has helped her throughout her softball career.
Beginning on a tee-ball team, Heady has excelled at softball and
continues to do so at Saint Louis University.

“She has a tremendous amount of talent offensively and
defensively,” said freshman first basemen Allison Appenfeller. On
Friday against Charlotte, Heady took two walks, and stole a base.
In the 9-8 win over University of Tennessee-Martin, Heady scored
and in the first UTM game she contributed with two hits, scoring
twice, and driving in a run.

What defines Heady’s softball career is that she is not only a
great player, but she also loves the game and is dedicated to the
team.

“It’s something that’s fun for me,” Heady said. To win a
softball game many aspects of play have to come to work together,
and Heady fosters that type of team play. “As a player it hurts the
team if you think about it from an individual aspect. You need to
look at it as an overall team effort and if you don’t the team
won’t progress at all,” Heady said.

Her teammates respect her as a player and as a friend. “She’s a
great leader on the field, talkative and always backing people up
and keeping them up,” Appenfeller said. “She’s very outgoing and
gets our spirits going.”

Always recognizing the efforts of the team, Heady points out
that it is important to recognize the seniors as well as the
freshmen on this year’s team. “The freshmen have done so much. They
have handled the pressure so well and done what they needed to do,”
Heady said.

“The seniors are the ones who keep us all calm and tell us what
to expect. They are our mentors that help us through things and
keep us pumped up.”

For Heady, softball is fun for a number of reasons, but “at SLU
it’s the group of girls, they’re all my really close friends. We
make the games fun, even if we aren’t winning.” Heady even plays on
a summer team with a number of the girls from the Billikens, team
as well as one of her assistant coaches.

Although the team’s record lurks below .500, they are a young
team still working to get out the kinks. “This is one of the most
talented teams I have played for. We all have really good
attitudes, and we all want to win,” Heady said. “We are all trying
to figure out what we need to do to get there.”

Heady always remains positive and acts as a motivator when the
team is down. “I think she will become more of a leader and more
important as the years go on,” Appenfeller said.

Softball has affected Heady’s life in many ways.

“It has taught me a lot about self-discipline and teaching me
how to work hard,” Heady said. Heady is a secondary education major
and English minor. She plans on teaching English literature or
American literature and coach softball. “I love the game. I love
everything about it,” Heady said.