Athlete Spotlight: Ashley Hunter
Photo by Ashley Hunter
Born and raised in Benton Louisiana, Ashley Hunter is one of the pitchers for our very own Centenary women’s softball team. Hunter played at Benton high school before college and prior to arriving at Centenary, she played for Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC). Hunter is in her senior year, majoring in Psychology, with plans to enter Centenary’s Master of Arts in Teaching program, otherwise known as the MAT. After college, Hunter plans to become an elementary school teacher, wanting to teach any grade from first through fourth.
Softball has always been a part of Hunter’s life. Her father and grandmother both coached softball, allowing her to be exposed to the sport from a very young age. Being the daughter of a coach, Hunter was almost expected to play softball, and luckily, Hunter ended up being gifted at it, which made her choose to continue playing the sport. As most children do when first learning a sport, Hunter played all over the softball diamond before settling into her role as a pitcher in her sophomore year of high school. The decision for Hunter to become a full-time pitcher was easy as she excelled in that role and realized her time would be best spent honing her craft at the mound.
Before becoming one of Centenary’s star pitchers, Hunter spent three semesters pitching at BPCC. While at BPCC, Ashely was coached by her longtime pitching coach and was able to play against all different levels of competition.
“BPCC was kind of different from Centenary when I first got here; it was a lot more rigorous being a JUCO. There’s not as many rules as being in a D3, so you can play 60 games in a season, can practice all the time, play games in the fall, and not have certain restrictions. So, you are kind of always doing something” Hunter explained when asked how it was playing at BPCC.
In the Spring of 2020, Hunter transferred to Centenary because of many reasons why our college draws people in already. The academics, campus, and the tight-knit community were the big selling points to convince Hunter to come here, as well as the softball program. Hunter really liked how close everyone seemed on campus when she visited, which is something that she didn’t have when she went to BPCC. Hunter saw just how many events there were on campus and was drawn to the community aspect.
Coming into Centenary, Hunter was originally an Education major, but she changed gears and decided to become a psychology major. The jump from education from psychology was tough; the course load for psychology seemed to be a lot harder than education for Hunter but that ended up being what she wanted. Hunter was looking for more of a challenge.
Speaking of challenging herself, Hunter is looking to take her teaching skills out of Northwest Louisiana and venture deeper into Louisiana. Hunter wants to use the power of education to help make a difference in her community. As for a future career as a softball coach, it doesn’t seem to be in cards for Hunter. Despite not wanting a career in coaching, that hasn’t stopped Hunter from coaching up and leading her teammates on the softball field. Being one of the oldest members of the team has allowed Hunter to step into a leadership role. Most of the softball team is underclassmen making Hunter’s veteran experience that much more valuable to the team.
If you talk to Hunter about being at Centenary, you really get the feeling that she enjoys it here and is happy with the new friends she’s made.
“When I came here, I was only here for a month [because of COVID], so I didn’t have a lot of friends. So, when we came back from COVID, I was able to appreciate the little things more because I never know when it could be taken away,” said Hunter when asked about some of her fondest memories on campus.
You can find the women’s softball schedule and more at gocentenary.com and be sure to support our ladies at their first home game on Wednesday, March 1st! This article goes with a podcast where I interview Ashley Hunter as well, so be sure to check that out as well!
