She’s crushed eight home runs, batted in 32 runs and has a stellar .392 average — all bests on the No. 9 Missouri softball team.
It’s been nothing short of a phenomenal senior campaign for outfielder Ashley Fleming, who was named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week on Tuesday. It was the second time she has received the accolade.
Fleming was also named Big 12 Conference Player of the Week.
The awards come on the heels of two Tiger victories against the then-No. 3 Texas Longhorns last week. Fleming accounted for half of the team’s 16 RBIs in Austin, Texas.
“It’s not like I go out there to try and get an award like this, but when you get the award, you feel like you doing what is expected of you and helping the team to win,” she said.
In her final year in the Missouri gold and black, Fleming has placed an emphasis on expanding her leadership role to match her high level of play.
“This year I went through that stage of not really knowing what coach was expecting of me as far as being vocal and being a leader on the team,” Fleming said. “That’s what I think I try to help the freshmen with, being able to say that I’ve gone through it all and I’ve seen how hard it is to adjust to this level.”
Coach Ehren Earleywine said early in the year, it was a challenge for Fleming to develop her own style of leadership — one that didn’t rely on being real vocal and having a rah-rah mentality.
“I told her that she’s not that type of person and she’s forbidden to do that because players would see right through it, and they’re going to know that it’s not genuine and not authentically her,” Earleywine said.
Earleywine encouraged Fleming to take two paths when embracing her leadership role. The first was to focus on one-on-one conversations with her younger teammates.
“She’s been there, she’s done that,” freshman third baseman Corrin Genovese said. “She uses her experience as a weapon to help the freshmen out.”
On a roster with 10 true freshmen, many of which see regular playing time, Fleming’s experience is invaluable.
“We don’t even play the same position, but she’s helping me with cutoffs, she’ll help me with a hitting tip,” she said. “I’ll go to ask her with any question. Even if I don’t know if she knows the answer, I know she’ll have some advice or some input that will help me get to where I want to go.”
The second piece of advice Earleywine gave was to lead by example on the field.
“Hustling, running out balls, sliding, playing hard, being selfless — all of those things are important for her to do because she’s an All-American and everyone looks up to her,” Earleywine said.
Her quiet demeanor aside, Fleming has stepped up and embraced her newfound role this season.
“Every leader leads differently,” Earlywine said. “I think the most important thing that any leader can have is authenticity, and she has been authentically herself all year long.”