After Owensboro junior Ashleigh Howard was injured in an outfield collision Monday night, the decision was made to postpone the Lady Devils matchup with Owensboro Catholic as well as potential future district games this week. Howard was conscious when she left the field and was only taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Senior K’Asia Palmer had a quick top of the first in the circle to start the game, making up for a walk by not allowing a hit in the inning. Her teammates then proceeded to return the favor, as a leadoff strikeout was followed up by a double from sophomore Ellington Embry and a single from junior Sophie Moorman to put runners on the corners with one down.
Sophomore Hessi Johnson took advantage of a 2-1 count the following at-bat, sending one well over the left center fence to take a 3-0 Lady Devils lead. Owensboro Catholic got one back in the top of the second thanks to a double from sophomore Tyranda Stuart and an Owensboro error in right field, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Palmer surrendered just the one in the inning though, bouncing back in the top of the third with a 1-2-3 inning to later help them take a 3-1 lead into the fourth. The game quickly came to a halt though, as Howard and center fielder Addison Hill both went after a fly ball in the first at-bat of the inning and collided.
As trainers were immediately called for, Ashleigh was later taken to the hospital in an ambulance as a precautionary measure and the game was postponed. Head Coach Quincy Moorman and his team were shaken up afterwards, with softball being the last thing on their minds.
“My thoughts right now are with Ashleigh,” Moorman said.
Moorman said that they do not plan to play Apollo on Tuesday and could potentially postpone future games depending on how Howard is doing as the week progresses.
“I know we’re supposed to play tomorrow at Apollo, but I’m going to reach out to coach Julian,” Moorman said. “I don’t know. We’ve got Daviess County Thursday and we might not be playing then either.”
Moorman said that the incident was really tough for the girls to see, with many of them having not seen something like that before. He was proud of how both sides handled the situation though, as both teams met and prayed in the circle while Howard was being tended to—doing so again after the game was postponed.
“I think the girls handled it really well based on the situation,” Moorman said. “Hats off to Catholic for coming over and showing their support. That was big of them. Most teams could have just walked away after the game was called, but they came over and said a prayer with our girls.”
Howard was reported ok in the hospital Monday night and has been released as of today.
