Ramona High grad Cassie Ford racks up honors as college softball player
By Bill Tamburrino
Cassie Ford had a pretty good week playing for the Colorado School of Mines softball team.
“I was very happy when I heard that I was named the school’s athlete of the week. I was honored when I received the honor of being the conformance player of the week. I was shocked when I found out that I was named the national player of the week,” stated Ford.
Ford is the designated player for the Colorado School of Mines softball team. Last week she led the Orediggers to three wins in Denver against Regis University and Metro State College. In doing so, she was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Week and the Louisville Slugger/NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) Division II National Player of the Week. Ford is the program’s first NFCA National Player of the Week.
Ford hit .750 by going 9-for-12, with three home runs, two doubles, 10 RBIs, and scored six runs. She compiled a 2.467 OPS with a 1.667 slugging percentage and an .800 on-base percentage. Those numbers are a great season, let alone a great week.
Ford opened the week against Regis by going 2-for-2 with three RBIs and scored two runs, had two walks, and blasted a two run home run.
In the second game of the day against Metro State, she had a career best four hit performance. Two of those hits were home runs. She had four RBIs, another career best, and scored three runs. It was her second multi-home run game of the season.
On Sunday she did not rest. She worked the Roadrunners by going 3-for-3 with three RBIs and scored one run. It was her third straight multi-hit game and her fifth straight multi-RBI game.
Ford leads the Orediggers in hitting with a .429 batting average, home runs (6), doubles (9), slugging percentage (.829), and has 25 RBIs. The Orediggers are leading the RMAC with a 16-2 record and are 25-4-1 overall.
Ford is also hitting the books pretty hard at the prestigious academic university. The 2011 Ramona High School grad has a 3.33 grade point average in civil engineering. Ford earned the Offensive Player of the Year her senior year at RHS, and was the Female Student/Athlete of the Year.
Ford didn’t get a Spring Break due to her commitment to the softball team so she won’t be able to visit Ramona until the end of the school term. She has been used exclusively as a designated hitter this season.
“I would rather be a DH and hit than be hit for and play in the field,” said Ford when asked if it was hard to just hit and not play on defense. Ford played for Mike Schuler, Antoinette Rodriguez and Robin Brainard at RHS.