Radford University’s Ashley Taylor in a league of her own

Coming off a second consecutive Big South Conference Pitcher of the Year award, one might think there was little Radford ace Ashley Taylor would have to change. But her coach, Mickey Dean, had something in mind for his rising senior.

“We talked about physically being ready to handle this season,” Dean said, “and what she was going to have to be able to do in the weight room and on the track.”

Taylor, a former Dan River High School standout, took her coach up on his challenge. And as she enters the final stretch of her illustrious collegiate career, it’s paying off.

Entering this weekend’s final regular season series with Birmingham-Southern, Taylor is putting together arguably her best season yet. The right-hander is 26-8 with a 1.25 earned run average and 202 strikeouts in 218 2-3 innings this season for the Highlanders (42-13, 10-2 Big South).

“That really worked to help build my legs for when the season did come around,” Taylor said of her offseason workouts. “You always hear pitching coaches refer to a pitches legs and how they have to have strong legs in order to carry them through the season. That’s really a big part of being able to stay out on the mound for seven or seven-plus innings.”

The extra conditioning also fell into line with Dean’s plan to use Taylor as his main pitcher down the stretch as the Highlanders attempt to win their first conference tournament title. Radford is currently second in the conference standings behind Winthrop (33-17, 14-1 Big South).

“We’ve made that no secret from the very beginning of this year,” Dean said. “We have, here, later in the season, had her throw a lot of times in back-to-back games.”

A conference championship is about the only thing Taylor hasn’t gotten since enrolling in Radford. In addition to her back-to-back pitcher of the year honors, she’s been a two-time all-conference first-team and all-tournament team selection.

As for the Radford pitching record book, she’s pretty much rewritten it. Taylor owns the career marks for wins (81), strikeouts (817), ERA (1.76), starts (212), complete games (96), shutouts (24) and saves (12). She also owns the top individual season marks for wins, innings pitched, appearances, strikeouts, starts, ERA and saves. Several of those marks also put her in the top five all-time in the Big South.

She also ranks in Radford’s top five in career home runs (28), doubles (40), runs batted in (131) and walks (63).

“I really had no idea that it would turn out the way that it was,” Taylor said of her success. “I didn’t think that I would be successful like that, not as much as I have been here at Radford.

“It means somewhat something to me right now. I’m sure later on it will really mean a lot to me, looking back on things. Right now I’m caught up in the moment and you don’t really realize what’s going on around you.”

Taylor said she’s more proud of the overall progress the program has made rather than her individual accomplishments. Before Taylor arrived at Radford, the Highlanders had just one winning season. In her four years, Radford has four-straight winning seasons (165-87) and three consecutive 40-win seasons.

“Just looking at the overall picture of how the program is coming along and being able to walk away and look back and say that I was a part of that success of a rising program, that’s really something,” Taylor said.

When her college career comes to an end, Taylor might explore playing professionally.

“There are some aspirations of possibly playing more softball at the professional level,” Taylor said. “That’s kind of an idea out there. If not that, then I guess jumping into a career.

“I majored in marketing and I’d really like to get into pharmaceutical sales or something like that.”

But that time hasn’t come yet. There’s still that Big South championship ring that she’d like to collect.

“That would be amazing,” Taylor said. “I feel like that’s pretty much what we’ve worked for and what I’ve worked for for the last three years. Just to end on that note would be great.”