Big Ten presents a challenge for Rutger’s Hitchcock

By: 
J. Patrick Eaken

Rutgers University sophomore Ashley Hitchcock (Eastwood) is the ace of the Scarlet Knights’ pitching staff, having thrown more innings than any of her teammates.

However, Rutgers plays in the Big Ten, and that makes it challenging. Hitchcock welcomes the challenge.

“I think it is a great opportunity,” Hitchcock said. “It is something I’ve dreamed of doing for my entire childhood. It is a little bit of a challenge just because it is my first year pitching in the Big Ten, but all-in-all I enjoy it and I know it is going to make me a better athlete.

“It is definitely a lot better than high school or travel ball because they are the top hitters in the country. They are older, they have experience, and a lot of these teams have been solid for quite a long time. It is a little bit of a challenge, but I think I am doing a good job of overcoming it.”

In 103 innings in the circle, Hitchcock is 4-13 with a 6.18 ERA. She has four complete games, one save, 68 strikeouts, 73 walks, and given up 124 hits and 91 earned runs. She is also batting .417 (5 for 12).

In the circle, Hitchcock has had to adjust from throwing fastballs that high school hitters could not catch up to.

“I have bettered my technique and pretty much worked on hitting locations because if you leave anything over the plate, it is going to be a hard hit because these girls are a lot smarter and they have a lot more power behind it,” Hitchcock said.

As a team, Rutgers is 7-29 with all games played in the Big Ten, but her high school coach, Joe Wyant, does not believe that will deter Hitchcock.

“She is very grown up, mature and obviously she is still a competitor. She does not get strikeouts like she did in high school, but she is playing against the best, and she is getting into big game situations,” Wyant said.

“She had a strikeout (against Ohio State) with the bases loaded to shut them down and stuff like that. It is a tough situation. They did not get any non-league games in, so they were thrown right into the fire this year without many confidence builders.”

 Hitchcock believes the future for the Rutgers’ softball program is strong.

“We are a young team, all in all, and with the other girls on the team, there are only three returners who have ever played in the Big Ten before, so we are a pretty new team to the Big Ten,” Hitchcock said. “Our goals for the future are just to keep working as hard as we can and better each other as a team. We plan on getting into the top five and maybe winning the Big Ten in one of our years.”

Her coach, former SEC Player of the Year and professional softball player Kristen Butler, began recruiting Hitchcock when Butler was head coach at the University of Toledo. Hitchcock also had a relationship with Rutgers assistant coach Natalie Yonan, who made the move with Butler from Toledo to Rutgers.

“Coach Butler I’ve known since I was a freshman in high school. I started getting recruited by them when I was a sophomore. I’ve watched her coach at Toledo and a little bit at Rutgers before I came,” Hitchcock said.

“She is just a great coach who is determined to win and so is our team. She pushes every one of us to be the best we can because she knows the potential that we all have. She is definitely going to make us get to the top.”

During Hitchcock’s freshman year at Rutgers, she made 19 appearances and five starts inside the circle going 5-3 on the year with the pitching corps’ top ERA of 3.52 with 59 strikeouts in 49.2 innings. She was ranked third in total appearances (19) and seventh in batters struck out looking (18) in the Big Ten. She also made 20 plate appearances hitting .268 (11-for-41) for the season with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs.

Hitchcock debuted her collegiate career in last year’s season opener against Army at the Bash in the Boro hosted by Georgia Southern with five strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work. In addition, she picked up a win over Hartford pitching 5.1 innings with seven strikeouts at the Bash. She made a total of four appearances with a 2-1 record and totaling 20 strikeouts at the Bash. She also led Rutgers at the plate during the opening weekend, batting .400 (6-for-15).

She also went 1-0 with a victory over Syracuse posting a 1.91 ERA in her three weekend appearances and struck out five ACC batters. At the University of South Florida Tournament, Hitchcock went 1-1 in four appearances tossing 12.2 innings allowing only four hits and striking out 14. She made appearances inside the circle in a trio of games with 13 strikeouts during Marshall’s Thundering Herd Round Robin, including a victory over Bucknell.

 

‘Ash’ owns Eastwood record book

Early in her senior season at Eastwood, Hitchcock got her 1,000th career strikeout, and in one week, she had back-to-back perfect games against Northern Buckeye Conference foe Rossford and three days later against Elmwood. She was a three-time NBC Pitcher of the Year and All-Ohioan.

Her senior year Hitchcock had 27 wins, 369 strikeouts, and gave up just 15 earned runs in 171 innings for an 0.61 ERA. That topped a great four-year career with a school record 102 wins and 1,337 strikeouts, and she had just six losses. Hitchcock was 56-0 in the NBC during her prep career.

“I feel she is the best pitcher the NBC has ever had and it is going to take a great pitcher to ever beat her school records at Eastwood,” Wyant said. 

Eastwood won the NBC title all four years she played. Her class helped the Eagles win 56 NBC games without a loss, and that continued until the 63-game win-streak was broken this year by Elmwood. 

“That will probably never be beaten,” Wyant told The Press. 

Hitchcock also owns school season records in RBIs (51), home runs (8) and batting average (.568). She led Eastwood to two straight regional championship runner-up finishes.

Hitchcock says her proudest sports moment was hitting a grand slam to win the semifinals of a regional tournament game after striking out 18 in the circle. 

Most noticeable is her work ethic. At Eastwood, she was known for pitching a doubleheader and then following up with a hitting or pitching lesson.

“Ashley has a great work ethic,” Wyant said. “She would get up at 6 in the morning to get extra pitching and hitting in before school and did it again after practice or a game. ‘Ash’ pitches 11 months a year.”

Hitchcock credits Wyant and her travel coaches for their role in mentoring her.

“High school helped me a lot, especially going into the tournaments. It just gave me better competition to get to this point and in travel ball we were playing against some of the best teams in all the tournaments. That definitely helped me get to this point as well,” Hitchcock said.

Wyant, who got to meet up with Hitchcock when she was home for spring break this year, is enamored by Hitchcock’s success.

I’ve always been proud of her. She is such a good kid, and she is really coachable. It is great. I feel an honor that I was part of her career,” Wyant said.

 

 

It appears your Web browser is not configured to display PDF files. Download adobe Acrobat or click here to download the PDF file.

Category:

The Press

The Press
1550 Woodville Road
Millbury, OH 43447

(419) 836-2221

Email Us

Facebook Twitter

Ohio News Media Association