Ashmead, Petchal to join West Liberty

STEUBENVILLE - Good friends Sara Ashmead and Kelli Petchal are heading to West Liberty University to play softball for coach Herb Minch.

The soon-to-be Catholic Central graduates, who "are just like sisters," according to them, ventured down different avenues to reach the campus.

In fact, it was by chance how Ashmead found out that her softball partner since playing on the Blue Jays as 8-year-olds was also going to be a Hilltopper.

"We were in the middle of running the course one day and I was next to her and said, 'oh, by the way,'" said Petchal. "I knew she was going there, but I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

"I was always torn between basketball and softball. I didn't know which one I wanted to play. But, I've been playing softball since I was 6. I figured I have been playing for so long, why not play at West Lib?"

Petchal said the decision to attend the school was easy.

Ashmead's decision had been made earlier in the year.

"At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to play softball in college," said Ashmead, who will study nursing. "But, about the middle of the school year I decided I wanted to. And, when practices started for softball I was sure I wanted to play.

"I think it's great that we starting playing softball together when we were 8 and now we're going to play college softball together."

"I don't think anyone understands how I play as much as she does," said Petchal, who is going to study sports management. "She knows how I play and if I'm mad because I struck out, she knows how to handle it.

"We joke around with each other and we just get it. We won't take anything we say seriously. It's nothing personal. We're motivating each other. We know how to say something to each other without getting mad."

Ashmead was the shortstop for the 21-3 Crusaders and Petchal played to her right at third base.

"Sara's speed on the base paths will be a major asset to West Liberty," said Central coach Jackie Rossi. "Sara was a great leader for us and made some big-game plays for us defensively over the years. She was a great teammate and I really enjoyed coaching her. West Liberty softball will really benefit from Sara's work ethic and talent next year.

"She has always been a steady force for us defensively but struggled offensively until this year. She batted over .400 for us and had 34 hits. The amazing part about that is that all of those hits came either from a right-handed slugging position - where you show bunt and then pull back and either bunt of slug.

"Basically, you are getting on base without ever going through a full traditional swing. That's a very hard thing to learn and Sara mastered it within a week of learning it this year.

"Kelly was a team player and very coachable. Kelli was always willing to work as hard as she needed to in order to improve her game. Her speed and aggressiveness on the base paths really created problems for our opponents. This is something that just cannot be taught so I'm sure she will be able to use this to her advantage at the college level.

"She is a great competitor and a good teammate. She was always willing to do whatever I asked of her and it was a pleasure coaching her.

"She led by example and worked very hard every practice and every game. I am sure she will be an asset to West Liberty's softball program next year."

Ashmead was a four-year letterman for the Crusaders and Petchal a three-year letterman. Ashmead led the team in hits and Petchal led the squad in triples.

"I would like thank my parents and my coaches, especially coach Rossi, and my brother," said Ashmead.

"I want to thank my family for getting me started in softball when I was so young," said Petchal. "With my older sister playing, she was always so good and I had to try to be as good as she was."

"It's rare to have one senior go on to play college softball, let alone four," said Rossi. "In addition to Kelly and Melissa Costantini signing with Carlow last month, we now have Kelli and Sara signing to play with West Liberty. That says a lot about the type of softball program we run and the type of players we have here.

"It's nice to see more girls taking advantage of their opportunity to continue their softball careers at the college level. We feel we prepare our girls well for the next level both academically and athletically at Catholic Central.

"I couldn't be more proud of their accomplishments during their high school careers."

(Mathison can be contacted at mmathison@heraldstaronline.com)