Leatham for the Catch
Minico player swings and misses and Ashlan Leatham drops to stop the ball on March 11, 2016. Leatham has only allowed 2 balls past her this season. The Cats won both games in the double header. Photo Courtesy: Heath Leatham
Senior and team Captain Ashlan Leatham is strong competitor for MHS Softball.
Story by: Ciarra Nedrow
It is all fun and games until Ashlan Leatham steps on the field. Leatham is 18 and plays softball at Madison High School, but has been competitive since fifth grade.
“I love softball because it is something I am good at and I am confident in,” says Leatham, “I love to be aggressive and quite frankly like to tackle, push, and throw people out. I like to be mean, which also sounds terrible, but it is really exciting to terrify people.”
Leatham also says, “Part of the reason I love it is because of my coaches. I would say they are more of my friends rather than coaches. They have helped me improve so much and made me love the game that much more.”
While watching Leatham play, you could really see how much passion she has for the sport with her teammates and coaches by her side. Leatham was a center fielder in softball up until the summer of 2014. Now she is a catcher and could not love it more. A motto she lives by is, “Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.”
Leatham has played in many positions through her softball career, but loves being a catcher the most. She loves the exhilarating feeling she gets as the ball flashes toward her.
In all, Leatham has had four home runs that all happened in her junior year. Three out of her four home runs were over the fence and the fourth one was just way out in the field. She had already hit an over-the-fence home run this season.
Come watch Leatham and all of the lady bobcats play March 31 at 4 PM at the Rigby High School softball fields.
When she explained to me the moment of her first home run she said, “It was the best thing that has ever happened in my life, I am pretty sure. Nothing is better than crankin’ one over the fans faces and watch them all stand there like idiots. It is also cool because I don’t have to haul my butt around the bases as fast as I can. I get to just take my time and rub it in.”
Leathams favorite days are game days. She craves the feeling she gets when her team scores, gets a home run, or even better… Wins! Softball gives her a chance to blow off steam and get away from the everyday stresses of life. She is too busy focusing on the game and cheering her team on that she doesn’t have time to stress about other things.
Aside from softball she love to do cross fit and work out as hard as she can. Pushing herself to be better in everything she does is something she lives for.
“I have learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.”
