The softball team at Timber Creek earned its 100th all-time win earlier this week and improved to 8- 1 on the year with just one senior in the starting lineup. A steady contributor on the diamond for the bulk of those victories has been team captain and four-year varsity player Ashlee Curran.
The result of her all-around efforts for the Wolves is a full-ride scholarship to play softball and study hospitality management at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. It’s likely that, as an up-and-coming underclassman, following the lead of her teammates has helped her prepare for the leadership role she carries today.
Not to the mention the way it will come in handy when entering the professional world down the road. What Curran took away most from those teammates, however, was the way they all worked together through triumphant times and the heartbreaks that followed at the conclusion of each season.
“It was amazing how we would all gel together when we needed to,” she said of playing alongside her teammates. “We had our fun times, but when we all got on the field it was about being serious.” Curran has taken on the leadership role with energy, becoming the mental and emotional leader of a team trying to get past the opening round of regionals after two straight failures to their newly minted rivals, Eau Gallie.
“This year we definitely have the talent. Maybe the most talent we’ve had since I’ve been here,” she said. “If we can just come together and work together as a team like we have in the past, I think we can do it.” From an individual standpoint it’s been easier said than done at this point in the season for Curran, who is off to a slow start at the plate as a senior.
Despite just two hits in 23 at-bats to begin 2008, she entered the year batting .284 in three seasons with 29 hits, 27 RBIs and 20 runs scored as a junior. Not that too many are worried at this point as her play at third base has been up to par and the talents of teammates Brittany MacFawn, Dana Hathorn, Megan Alligood and Jessica Lanci, among others, have proved beneficial.
At this point it’s the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet that Curran continues to provide. “She has been around good ballplayers and she knows what it takes to be out here and to lead the team,” said head coach Steve Soubasis of the senior. It’s attributes such as this that’s helped get her prepared for what lies ahead, whether playing softball or not.
Curran also enjoys running, working out and spending time at the beach when she’s not making the grades in the classroom where she enjoys English class most. She is planning to continue her studies at UCF after finishing up at FCCJ. That’s a lot of moving around for someone who has spent her entire life growing up in the same Wedgefield neighborhood.
But before she does move on after high school, she wants to inspire the sophomores and juniors on Timber Creek’s roster this season to want to be the next leaders who step up to the plate when their time comes.
Until then, there are goals to be met. So far this season Timber Creek has competed well in wins over Spruce Creek, Palm Harbor, Viera and Lake Mary, with their lone loss coming at the hands of Eau Gallie, 4-0, at the Lake Mary Tournament. The close wins they’ve already pulled out are signs that they are closer to getting past that bump in the road that is now known as the opening round of regionals. “That’s our goal now,” said Soubasis.
“They know what it takes to get there, but now it’s about moving on and playing at that higher level.” The Wolves recently won game No. 99 against Winter Park behind a 13- strikeout no-hitter by MacFawn. They then won No. 100 on Monday at home against Merritt Island behind a no-hitter on 8 K’s from Hathorn.
“It’s pretty meaningful,” said Soubasis of the program’s 100-73 overall mark since 2002. “Doing it in such a short amount of time with all the girls that have come through has been special.” And now that they’ve reached a milestone of this magnitude together, there is little time to lose focus of a postseason that could put the finishing touches on what’s already been accomplished at TCHS.
