The Ashley Ridge softball team has a new coach and some new starters, but the Swamp Foxes got the same old results Monday night.
In the team’s debut season last year, Ashley Ridge tore through the AA ranks to claim the Region VI-AA championship. The Foxes finished the season with a 20-7 record after making a deep run into the playoffs that ended with a loss to the team that had won it all the season before.
However, Lindsey Blackmon stepped down as the Foxes’ head coach and not all of the team’s players returned for its sophomore season. The Foxes didn’t exactly turn heads this preseason, but with several key retuners leading the way Monday night, Ashley Ridge won its season opener in decisive fashion.
Paige Deschaine threw a no-hitter as the Foxes downed Fort Dorchester 9-0. Deschaine struck out a dozen batters and the Patriots only managed to put two runners on base.
Katelyn Anderson, Chelsea Guyton and Deschaine were all 2-for-4 at the plate. Anderson, who also walked twice, finished with two RBIs and two runs scored. Guyton drove in two runs, scored a run and reached base in all four of her turns at bat. Deschaine helped her own cause, driving in three runs while also scoring one. Aubrey Rabun had an RBI double and scored a run.
“We played in two preseason tournaments and that gave us the chance to move girls around to see what they could do, but we lost several of our scrimmages,” new head coach Angi Brush said. “To come out tonight and win 9-0 is huge. We finally started hitting the ball.”
The team is still young, with only two juniors and no seniors. However, several of the Foxes play year round and last year’s prolonged high school season provided valuable experience.
Brush, who once coached the Summerville High School JV and has experience as a travel-ball coach, says she is glad to be back around the diamond.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed it,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be back out here. I have great assistant coaches and some girls who have a lot of heart and really want to play. We are taking it one practice at a time, one game at a time. Too many teams focus on that prize at the end and then they stumble because they are looking too far down the road. They had a great season last year, but it’s a new year.”

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.