Johnson named to Super-State Team

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Polson Shortstop Johnson named to Super-State Softball Team

Polson Lady Pirate senior shortstop Ashley Johnson was named as one of a pair of Class A representatives to the Great Falls Tribune 2012 Super-State softball team.  The other was Belgrade Lady Panther Justine Taylor.

At the 2012 State A tournament, Johnson hit 13-20 for a blistering .650 average, scoring 9 runs along with stealing a trio of bases in route to spearheading her team to their third consecutive Class A state championship.  Like the uncertain rumblings eminating from a seismic volcano, this Ash is capable of erupting at the plate at any time.  When the typical expectation would be to see a dip in performance against tournament-caliber competition, Johnson succeeded in elevating her game a few notches to more than match that of the level of competition and actually hit better than her regular season average in the most recent postseason by over a hundred percentage points against superior pitching and better defensive alignments.   She wrapped up the 2012 campaign scoring 47 runs off 53 hits for a .552 average, tallying 15 RBIs with 26 stolen bases. 

Johnson’s cumulative 3-year varsity prep career spring  MHSA stat tally: (100 R, 125 H, 5 2B, 1 HR, 45 RBI, .494 Avg, 51 SB from 10-12). 

Her 3-year cumulative summer 16U ASA stat tally: (86 R, 126 H, 10 2B, 61 RBI, .494 Avg, 38 SB in 16U ASA 09-11). 

Overall cumulative prep career totals over the course of both spring and summer softball campaigns: (186 R, 251 H, 15 2B, 1 HR, 106 RBI, .494 Avg, 86 SB in both prep MHSA + 16U ASA).

Cumulative prep multi-sport accolades:

softball super-state, all-state, all-tournament, thrice all-conference 1st-team (ss 11-12, of 10);  volleyball two-time all-conference honorable-mention

Johnson is slated to extend her softball career at the collegiate level for the Minot State University Beavers, a NCAA Division II school competing in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.  Speculation could abound about whether Johnson will someday be pulled aside and detained as a potential security risk by an overzealous TSA airport screener who has a collegiate softball background due to recognition of her penchant for terrorizing the base path, a presently-ficticious scenario that could conceivably come to realistic fruition when her team is traveling to face an upcoming opponent sometime in the foreseeable future.  As many NWA local softball followers are well aware, this “Ash” can be exceedingly dangerous, as tends to be the case with those who tote a gun for an arm and have speed to burn on the base path.

data crunching integrated with info compiled by John Heglie

Lady Pirate stats courtesy of coach Larry Smith

The article featuring the  selectees to the Great Falls Tribune 2012 Super-State softball team is authored by Jesse Geleynse ‘’Rustlers, Bison dominate Super-State squad,“ Great Falls Tribune (Sun. 17 Jun  2012 [posted] 4:16 am), physically published in  the GFTrib’s Sunday  edition, but can also be viewed online at the following website location:

<http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20120617/SPORTS/206170327/Rustlers-Bison-dominate-Super-State-squad>