Whenever Paris was at the plate on Monday night, the innings seemed like they would never end.

Paris vs Community R-6 Photo Gallery

The state No. 8 Lady Coyotes scored in every inning, including seven runs in the third, to win 15-0 in four innings over state No. 7 Community R-6 on the Lady Trojans’ home field in the Class 1 District 4 championship game. It is the first Paris softball district title since 2001 and the third ever district title in program history.

Ever since Collin Huffman stepped into the head coaching role seven years ago, Paris (22-6) has steadily made improvements. The results increased dramatically with the group that hoisted a district title plaque on Monday night as the Lady Coyotes went from three wins to 12 to 13 and now 22 over the past four years.

“I was in there for four years of winning between three to six games for those years,” Huffman said. “Part of it is always athletes. I think we have more athletes playing now than we did before. We used to struggle with numbers. Obviously, we don’t struggle with numbers this year. The more you have out there, the more competition you have. The more competition you have in practice, the better you get. If you’re not good enough, you don’t get to play.”

For interest in the program to increase, Huffman said it needs to start with some dedicated players. Emma and Kennedy Ashenfelter are only one pair of sisters on this year’s Lady Coyotes but are definitely the siblings that have made the greatest impact. Emma is the catcher so she works with No. 1 pitcher Kennedy much of the time, and Kennedy and Emma are second and third on the team with 33 and 28 RBI.

Emma Ashenfelter had the game of her season by finishing 3-for-4 with six RBI and a double, and Kennedy Ashenfelter had her third four-RBI game of the season after going 3-for-4 including the walk-off two-RBI single in the fourth inning. The senior Kennedy only allowed one hit in four innings while adding three strikeouts to her program-high career strikeout total.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Huffman said in response to the Ashenfelters’ production during the championship game. “I know who they are. They thrive in moments like this. They live for it, because when you play travel ball, you play in a lot of moments like this too.”

Huffman said the Ashenfelters produce like they are accustomed to doing as have others on the team this season. Along with them, he said RBI and home run leader Reese Sutton plays travel ball and goes through hitting practice in the offseason. Ava Crain, who owns an ERA below 1.00 like Kennedy Ashenfelter, went to pitching practice this week even though Ashenfelter pitched every inning in districts.

Kennedy Ashenfelter said she feels “absolutely over the moon” after winning a district title in her final season and even more so that she was able to do it with her junior sister. 

“I’m so grateful to have played with my sister and to get the opportunity to keep playing with her for a few more games at least,” Kennedy Ashenfelter said. “It has been amazing.”

Paris felt confident heading into its fourth meeting with Community (21-12) this season. The Lady Coyotes went in 1-2 in the three previous games, but those contests were decided by a combined five runs. 

In the fourth matchup against the Lady Trojans and in the third time facing Jocelyn Curtis, Paris was a tough out no matter who it sent to the plate, Curtis was ahead a lot of the time with two strikes, but those at-bats resulted in base hits until the Lady Coyotes had collected 15 of them. Curtis was taken out during the third inning in favor of Myla Carroll since Paris proved to be unwilling to give up on any at-bat.

“We’ve seen her three times,” Emma Ashenfelter said. “The second pitcher, we’ve seen her twice now.”

“We just wanted it,” Kennedy Ashenfelter said. “We put in so much work. As a senior, especially, we wanted it so bad.”

Sutton was 2-for-3 with one RBI, Gretchen Crusha was 2-for-3 with one RBI, Alyssa Webb finished 1-for-1 and scored three runs, and seven of the nine Paris hitters each had at least one hit and eight of nine scored at least one run. Leadoff hitter Sylvee Graupman reached base all four times and finished 3-for-3 with three runs and one RBI, showing why she is a big reason the Ashenfelters and everyone behind her can pick up RBI.

“The girls grind out at-bats,” Huffman said. “To their pitchers’ credit, they have good pitchers that are around the zone tonight. I thought we had a very nice zone tonight. I told the girls to just be ready but understand we’ve seen them before. You’ve seen it, so you know what you can’t handle.”

Huffman ventured to say that advancing to the state Final Four means more to Paris than to any other team in the state. That is simply because the Lady Coyotes have never made it to state in softball. Prior to 2001, Paris hadn’t even won district titles since 1984-85.

In the Lady Coyotes’ state quarterfinal game on Saturday afternoon, they will host it in Paris and face District 3 champion and state No. 3 Cairo (24-4) for the second time this year after allowing 12 unearned runs in a 12-3 loss in the third game of the season. Huffman admitted his goal was to win by 10 runs against Community as a way to send a statement heading into Saturday.

“It’s huge not only for the girls but for our school and community,” Huffman said. “Winning brings people together. It’s a big deal for our community more than anything else. It’s not just for them. It’s for everybody. That is what’s so awesome about it.”

“It definitely feels gratifying,” Kennedy Ashenfelter said in response to going from single-digit wins as a freshman to a historic district-title-winning season. “It’s just great.”

“It’s really exciting,” Emma Ashenfelter said. “We put in a lot of work out of season, in season and it’s really nice to accomplish something. We deserve it.”