Ashmore a consummate boy of summer

Sometime in the next three to five days, Levi Ashmore will complete the latest chapter in his decorated baseball career.
The 18-year-old Ashmore is completing his final season as the starting shortstop and leadoff hitter for Iola’s Leslie J. Campbell Post 15 AA Indians.
“It’s really flown by,” said Ashmore, who has played in more than 200 Legion games in his career. “I’ve been lucky to have been a part of this. It’s crazy how fast it’s gone.”
Not that he’s taken much time to reflect.
“You don’t really have time to relax and think back like that,” he said. “You always have to be focused for the next ground ball, the next game, the next at-bat.”
Even now, on the heels of winning their second straight state championship, the Indians are still looking forward. Iola (40-3) will wrap up its season in the upcoming Mid-States Regional Tournament in Pratt.
The Indians will take on Viroqua, Wisc., at about 1 p.m. Thursday, then play as many as two or three games Friday. For the teams still alive after that come the semifinal rounds Saturday and the championship Sunday.
Teams from Minnesota, North Dakota, Nevada and South Dakota, as well as host Pratt, also will be a part of the tournament.
Ashmore admits to knowing nothing about his upcoming opponents. He suspects they know little about Iola.
Still, he remains confident.
“Everybody wants to win their last game. We certainly aren’t going out there to lose,” he said. “If we go out and play our brand of ball, we’ll be OK.”

A STANDOUT athlete in several sports, Ashmore found himself most at home on the diamond.
His father, Sherman, was a standout who played and coached at Allen Community College. And it was in his father’s coaching career that Ashmore got his first day-to-day exposure to the sport.
Young Levi would tag along with his father to hang out in the ACC dugout during games, getting the rare opportunity for those his age to visit with a collection of 19- and 20-year-old ball players.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world to sit in that dugout and watch those games,” he said.
Ashmore was hooked.
When not playing until well past dark, he’d usually have a game on television to watch at home.
“That’s where I learned,” he said. “Having a father as a coach didn’t hurt, either.”
He proved to be a model student. As an 8-year-old, Ashmore was “called up” to join the Iola Sluggers, a traveling squad of locals organized by a group of baseball parents, such as Mitch Sigg, Bill Walden, Roger and Billie Collins and Mike Taylor.
“I was 8,” he recalled. “The rest of my teammates were 9.”
Ashmore was a natural fit at shortstop and at the top of the lineup. “That’s where the action is,” he noted.
The Sluggers racked up wins aplenty through the years, eventually finishing second in the 2008 USSSA 14-and-Under AA Baseball World Series, losing a hard-fought championship to Louisville.
“By then we knew we were pretty good,” Ashmore said.

WHEN ASHMORE entered his senior year at IHS, most expected the Mustangs to take a step back. Iola had lost seven starters from its 2012 squad, and most of its pitching rotation.
“And those guys were sluggers,” Ashmore said. “We had pop up and down the lineup.”
But a younger crop of players seamlessly stepped into the lineup.
While the 2013 Mustangs, and now Indians, don’t have the power hitters of previous years, they do have a group of solid, fundamental role players, Ashmore said.
“We’ve got guys like Trent Latta who stepped up quickly and already pitches like an ace,” Ashmore said. “And we added hitters like Derrick Weir.”
The 2013 Mustangs won their first 20 games before dropping the Class 4A state championship to Topeka Hayden, 6-4.
While the loss was a bitter one to swallow, Ashmore isn’t one to dwell.
“Having somebody like Coach (Mark) Percy really helped,” Ashmore said. “He’s great at coaching fundamentals, and he never once got down, even after the loss. He just told us how proud of us he was.”
Ashmore also doesn’t dwell on losses because he understands better than most the sport’s fickle nature.
“It’s not always the best team that wins,” Ashmore said. “All it takes is one bad day. You can hit line drives all day, but if they’re right at the fielders, you can lose.”
Even so, Ashmore doesn’t lose often.
Counting his last two Legion seasons and his high school senior year for the Mustangs, Ashmore’s teams are a combined 108-10, with two states titles and a runner-up finish.
Ashmore, meanwhile, has developed into an offensive force. He’s batting a jaw-dropping .504 with 50 RBIs and 68 runs in 41 games. He’s also a perfect 28-for-28 in stealing bases, continuing a remarkable streak that has extended through high school as well.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve been caught stealing,” he said. “I think it was in a summer league outside Kansas City.”
So which team was best? Could the 2013 Indians have defeated the 2012 squad?
“It’d probably depend on the day of the week,” replied Ashmore, ever the diplomat. “Last year’s team had some great hitters, but we’ve got some great pitchers this year, too.”

ASHMORE ISN’T traveling far to continue his baseball career.
He will take his talents across town to Allen Community College, where he hopes to fit in nicely with several current and former teammates for the Red Devils.
Ashmore plans to do all he can as the team’s shortstop and leadoff hitter.
“It’ll be a challenge,” he said, noting ACC’s struggles on the field in recent years. “We’ve got to try to establish a winning tradition once again.”
With players such as Ashmore, such a tradition may not be far off.