Williams Adjusting to Role as Eagles’ Softball Ace
April 5, 2005

By Paul Carmany, AU Sports Information

One of the most poignant scenes from the classic basketball movie Hoosiers opens with the wide-eyed Hickory High School basketball players walking into the state championship arena for the first time, amazed at its size. In order to calm and refocus his players, coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) instructs his players to measure the height of the hoop and the distance from the foul line to the basket. After they do so and are reminded that the hoop is still 10 feet high and that a foul shot is still a 15-footer, Jimmy Chitwood and company are ready to conclude their magical run with the most improbable upset in the history of Indiana high school basketball.

While it is uncertain whether or not Ashland University sophomore Jaime Williams (Albertville, AL) has ever taken a measuring tape with her to the softball diamond at Brookside Park, the hurler has been able to make an extremely successful venue shift of her own.

A high school standout in northeast Alabama, Williams is quickly becoming the Eagle softball team’s most dependable pitcher. After pitching just 13 1/3 innings as a freshman, Williams is currently leading the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) in both wins (11) and strikeouts (115). Her efforts have helped AU get off to a 17-11 start.

How did Williams discover a Division II university over 600 miles north of her hometown? In the summer of 2002, knowing that star pitchers Josie Nelson and Leslie Eberhardt each had just two years left to pitch, AU head coach Sheilah Gulas sought out a hurler that could be groomed to replace that duo, which ended its career with a combined 120 wins. Gulas contacted Cheri Kempf, a well-known pitching instructor based in Nashville, TN, and was pointed towards Williams, who had attended a number of Kempf’s camps.

Prior to receiving a phone call from Gulas, Williams admitted, “I was 99 percent sure that I was going to attend college in Mississippi. I hadn’t heard of Ashland.” However, once Williams learned more about the Eagle softball team and about Ashland’s Ashbrook Scholars political science program, of which she is now a member, she changed her plans.

Once at Ashland, Williams and fellow freshman Sarah Holets (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward) spent their freshman year as understudies to seniors Nelson and Eberhardt. While her game experience was limited as a result, Williams was thankful for the opportunity to learn from such established collegiate pitchers.

“They are two really good pitchers, and I was fortunate to be able to work with them,” Williams noted. “They helped me and Sarah by giving us pointers. Coming from high school to college is very difficult.”

Williams attributes much of her improving ability to forget about hits and errors and focus on the task at hand to Nelson and was inspired by Eberhardt’s perseverance.

Once Nelson and Eberhardt graduated, Williams wasted no time in asserting herself as the Eagles’ top pitcher. She went 6-1 with a 1.24 ERA on the team’s spring break trip to Florida and has not slowed down since returning to the chilly, northern weather, to which she is still acclimating herself. She struck out 14 batters in a nine-inning win over Alderson-Broaddus and has fashioned a pair of shutout victories.

“I think she definitely has some moving pitches and can mix it up well,” said Gulas. “There aren’t many hits against her that are really solid. She’s successful when she works ahead of hitters and has done a good job of that so far.”

Williams has walked just 27 batters in 105 innings so far this season.

“She’s done very well against some of the top teams we’ve faced,” continued Gulas. “Jaime does a good job of keeping us in a ballgame.”

Five of Williams’ victories have come against teams with winning records, as Gulas alluded to.

While Gulas gave Williams quite a bit of credit, the sophomore chose to give credit to her teammates. When asked what the keys to her early-season success have been, she first named senior catcher Nicole Placie (Cridersville, OH/Wapakoneta). Placie, who has started all 28 games behind the plate, was described by Williams as “fantastic.”

Williams additionally credited the defense behind her. “We’ve had young players really stepping up in key roles and our outfield play has been stellar,” observed Williams. She listed Ashley Mayle (Louisville, OH), Laurie Black (Canal Winchester, OH/Bloom-Carroll) and Michelle Congrove (Rittman, OH/Chippewa) among those effectively patrolling the outfield.