Ed. Note: The summer series in the New Carlisle News continues this week, as we look at returning athletes throughout the next few weeks from Tecumseh High School.

For the past two years, Ashley Fite has made herself known around the Central Buckeye Conference as one of the most elite players in the area. In fact, she has accomplished so much, it is almost hard to believe she has only played two years with the Arrows.

Unfortunately for the opposing coaches in the league and around the area, Fite will only be a junior this coming season. That means the nightmare of trying to keep her off base will continue.

“In my two seasons of high school softball, I’ve had a lot of great experiences,” Fite said. “I know in the world of travel softball you know lots of the girls that you play against because you have probably played with or against them throughout the years you’ve played, but in high school I didn’t know hardly any of my opponents and it’s been an amazing opportunity to meet new people and even make some new friends.”

A personal high school highlight for Fite happened her freshmen season, driving in 54 runs placed either first or second in pretty much every category in the CBC.

“Being a good player isn’t all physical to me, in my opinion you could all the talent in the world and have a bad attitude or be a bad teammate and that automatically makes you a bad player,” she noted. “So personally, for me working on being the best player I can be is just being a good teammate and being an unselfish member of the team.”

While she is already a solid player and is expected to leave Tecumseh in two years as one of the most decorated in school history, she always looks for ways to get better. She spends a tremendous amount of time in the off-season improving.

“To better my game I’ve always had a summer ball team,” she said, as she is in the middle of another season now. “My first was the Tecumseh Rage and then after that I played for Ohio Hawks, Lady Lasers Green, Indiana Gators, The Beverly Bandits and now I play for The Ohio Stingrays.”

“Outside of summer ball I work out, I’ve gone to a program in Centerville called Fasttwitch and now I go to a place in Vandalia called Enhance U.”

While she has become established in the area, she leaned on her parents for support growing up while she learned the game.

“My dad was the one that got me into playing sports in general, softball especially,” she said. “Both of my parents have always encouraged me to be involved in sports and have pushed me to work hard and play hard.”

“My dad was more of the actual athletic department of my game where my mom was there for the mental part so they both played huge roles in the athlete and person I am today. Other than my parents encouraging me to play sports, I had a lot of energy, so even before I was old enough to play sports I was playing whiffle ball with the neighbor kids or having my dad come out to the back yard and play catch with me.’

“Softball has always been my favorite though; my mom was a cheerleader and gymnast but unfortunately for her I never r wanted any part of either. My dad on the other hand was a great baseball player so I’m sure to his delight I wanted to play softball all the time.”

While college is a few years down the road, the standout Arrow already has that goal in sight.

“I only plan to play softball to the collegiate level but if the opportunity comes for me to play at the professional level then I would consider it,” she said. “A goal for my collegiate career is to compete in the Women’s College World Series and it’d also be pretty great to win it all.”

“For my team I really just want the game to be fun and for us to win and compete and improve ourselves as a team with every game we play win or lose. I hate losing just as much as the next girl but I do believe in productive losses, sometimes the other team is just better than you, but if you put up a good fight and you adjust and improve to stand up to better competition then I think that loss isn’t as bad as getting slaughtered just because you made a bunch of stupid mistakes. So win or lose I want my team to improve and grow stronger.”

Fite is not sure what she plans to major in, but her college interests now range from forensic and criminal psychology all the way to a sports medicine specialist.

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