The CT Softball Blog

NEW HAVEN—Ashley Lewis has already made history.

Whatever happens on Thursday afternoon when the Southern Connecticut State University junior steps into the circle at Pelz Field to face the University of Bridgeport will simply be icing on the proverbial historical cake.

Lewis, the junior pitcher out of Columbia, who pitched in high school for E.O. Smith in Storrs, opened her 2024 season by throwing back-to-back no-hitters.

Read that again: Back-to-back no-hitters.

On Tuesday, March 4, at Bloomfield College, Lewis drew the start and didn’t give up a single hit in seven innings of action. In fact, she went 6.1 innings of perfect softball before giving up a walk with one out in the seventh. She struck out 10 and walked one.

Forty-eight hours later, in a 12-0 win over in-state rival Post University of Waterbury, Lewis did it again. She didn’t give up a hit in six innings, striking out seven and walking (again) just one.

“Ashley Lewis has come to every practice determined and wanting to get better,” SCSU coach Kate Bowen said. “She is consistently working on her spin in the bullpen. In our program we talk about getting one percent better each day and that is exactly what she has done. I am not surprised by her early success because of how hard she has worked all year and how competitive of a person she is.”

Get this, though: Last season, in her last two appearances, Lewis gave up just one hit over the final 7.1 innings she pitched.

So, if we do the math, over the course of the last 20.1 innings that she has put on an Owls jersey and stepped on the rubber, Lewis has given up just one hit.

The last inning of the second no-hitter was stereotypical Lewis, whose nastiest pitcher is her drop ball: Ground ball to first base. One out. Ground ball to shortstop. Two outs. Ground out to second. Three outs.

History.

With a pause.

“I mean it definitely took a second because I know in that last inning there were three ground balls and the defense made those plays, which allowed the no-hitter to happen,” Lewis said. “So it definitely took a second to realize, and then all my teammates were so happy, and that’s when I realized what happened. It was just a very unforgettable moment.”

With that final out, Lewis became the first pitcher in SCSU history to throw back-to-back no-hitters, as well.

“Yeah, it definitely means a lot,” Lewis admitted. “I just think my hard work is starting to pay off in the weight room, in practice, and just constantly working with my coaches and my pitching coach. But I really think that this wouldn’t have happened without the defense behind me to make those plays. So, I mean, it definitely means a lot, but I think it was definitely a team effort for it to happen.”

Lewis’ talk about hard work isn’t just an athlete throwing out typical cliches.

The proof is in the numbers.

Lewis’ growth process since her E.O. Smith days has been impressive.

Her freshman season at Southern saw Lewis—like every other pitcher making the transition from high school to college—must make some adjustments.

She saw action in 21 games, and started six, and she did strike out 50 in 59 innings. However, she finished her freshman campaign 0-5 with a 6.71 ERA.

Those numbers had to improve and they did.

Last season, as a sophomore, Lewis became somebody the Owls could count on. She made 19 appearances, including 17 starts, and while she finished 7-8 overall, she had a 2.50 ERA, striking out 70 in 101 innings.

“(The SCSU coaching staff) have definitely worked with me a lot this preseason to get even better; get my spin better and to get stronger,” Lewis said. “With all the work that I put in, I just trust my stuff.”

Needless to say, the 6-year-old version of Ashley Lewis, the one who began this journey on a t-ball field in northeast Connecticut, never would have imagined a future like this.

Pitching, it seems, just came naturally.

“I just started pitching one day and people were like, ‘You kind of got this. You should go see a pitching coach,’” she recalled. “So, when I was 10, I went to go see Molly Rathbun and she’s been my pitching coach ever since.”

Rathbun is a former Eastern Connecticut standout who was inducted into the Little East Conference Hall of Fame after going 42-3 in her career. She has coached at Muhlenberg, Trinity College and UConn.

When she was 12, Lewis tried out for and made the CT Bombers travel program.

Soon after, thoughts of become a college softball player, soon entered her head.

It would take work, she was told, but Lewis knows how to work.

“Ever since then, I just kept working hard, to get to where I am now,” she said.

She would later jump to the CT Eliminators on her road to college, but the hard work never stopped.

She made varsity at E.O. Smith as a freshman, but the team was very senior heavy that year and Lewis didn’t find her way to the circle. Then, her sophomore season, the sports world stopped due to COVID.

She was the Panthers starting pitcher for both her junior and senior season, however.

“I went from not pitching a lot to pitching like every game my junior and senior year, which was a lot,” Lewis said. “It was definitely a jump.”

Just like it was a jump from high school to college, but Lewis knows hard work is the driving force to success.

Every time she throws a pitch, she proves it.

For the record, Lewis is now 23 no-hitters away from the NCAA record of Most No-Hitters—which is 25, set by a former University of California hurler named Michelle Granger. Granger, who once threw nine no-hitters in a single season, would later pitch for the 1996 U.S. Olympic team.

Two straight no-hitters is just fine for Lewis and for the Owls.

All that matters on Thursday is that Lewis and the Owls find a way to win, be it a third straight no-no, or a 15-14 slugfest.

“I definitely think it’s a lot of pressure, but I just think going in there and trusting my spin and my mechanics, knowing what I’ve worked on, and just knowing that I have the defense behind me to make the plays and just go out there and try my best,” Lewis said. “I mean, that’s all I do.”

Well that, and making history.

(From The Dugout is a regular column written by CT Softball Blog Publisher John Nash)

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