USA Today names Auburn softball signee Ashlee Swindle ‘best in the nation’
Ashlee Swindle, left, was named the best high school softball player in the country by USA Today. Mom Trina, center, and dad David are proud of their daughter even if both don't cheer for the same school. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)
Ashlee Swindle likes to play basketball. She just doesn’t like to run.
“I like shooting,” the recent Curry High grad said. “If I could just sit in the corner and let them throw the ball and I could just shoot it, I’d be perfectly fine with that.”
Ashlee is better at playing softball. Much better.
Thursday, the Auburn University signee from Jasper was named the best high school softball player in the country by USA Today and anchored the All-USA team that was published online. Previously tabbed the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year, she is a candidate to be the national Gatorade honoree and is a top candidate to be Miss Softball for Alabama. (Editor’s note: Swindle was named Miss Softball for Alabama on June 12.)
Ashlee led the Yellow Jackets to back-to-back Class 4A state championships. At the plate, she had a .557 batting average, driving in 86 runs, hitting 14 doubles and 13 home runs.
The right-handed pitcher was 45-2 on the mound with a 0.59 earned run average, one save, 39 complete games and 23 shutouts. She had 385 strikeouts in her senior season with 34 walks.
Despite having 1,015 career strikeouts in her high school career, Ashlee doesn’t consider herself a power pitcher.
“I’m more of a groundout pitcher,” Ashlee said. “I put all my trust in my defense. I don’t go looking for strikeouts.”
But Ashlee is part of an Alabama Power household. Dad David is a lead lineman who has worked for Alabama Power for 22 years. Mom Trina worked for the company 20 years and is now a fuel analyst for Southern Company Services.
Trina grew up playing slow-pitch softball but did give fast-pitch a try. She attempted to catch a pitch from 10-year-old Ashlee and lived to regret it.
“She hit me in the shin with her drop ball and that was it,” Trina said. “She was throwing it pretty hard then. I won’t do it again.
“I literally dropped the glove, gave her a look – my death stare – and just hobbled off.”
Ashlee began playing softball at age 4. That was her parents’ idea, “getting her active at a young age,” David said. She was 7 when she started pitching and the sport became her passion.
The softball diamond became the family’s home away from home. This summer, for instance, Ashlee is playing with a travel softball team before making her way to the Plain.
“All our friends, family and work colleagues go to these exotic vacations,” Trina said. “Our vacation and our exotic trips are to softball fields. It’s just the norm.”
Ashlee Swindle was raised on Bama softball but will play for Auburn from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Ashlee says that norm includes her being the calm member of the family.
“You can ask just about anybody in Walker County,” she laughed. “Dad gets kicked out of just about every game.”
“I ain’t been kicked out but one time,” David injected.
“He gets really, really loud. You can show up to any game and you’ll know who my dad is,” Ashlee continued. “And mom gets mad about a lot of things.
“God knew what he was doing when he put me in the family.”
