Posted: May 10, 2014
The four-time Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Pitcher of the Year owns the Eagles' career record for wins with 92. A week ago, she broke the school record in career strikeouts, currently at 552.
In her senior season alone, some of the numbers are staggering. Utley won her first 19 decisions on the mound. Through the HAAC Championship Series, the senior from Trenton has a 24-1 record, including 13 shutouts.
While having established herself as one of the top pitchers in the NAIA, Utley has focused very little of her time reflecting on her statistics. That's just not her style.
"I tried really hard to not look at the numbers," Utley said. "I don't look at stats for me, our team or any team."
Well, she did admit there was one time when she did take a little notice of her own numbers.
"I do know that first loss did come as a hard blow, just because I knew it was my first loss," Utley said.
Aside from that defeat against Lincoln on April 22, Utley has been nearly flawless this spring. It's not just Utley, though. The whole team has been on a roll this season.
Central Methodist (41-6) won both the conference regular-season and tournament championships, securing its spot as one of the 40 teams to qualify for the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round. It's the third consecutive year the Eagles have reached the national tournament, but this year will have a different setting than the first two.�In 2012, Central Methodist was one of 32 teams competing in the tournament, which was held in Gulf Shores, Ala. Last year, the tournament format changed, with teams playing in an opening round and winners advanced to a 10-team tournament in Columbus, Ga.
"That first year, with the top 32 teams all in one spot, it was overwhelming for us all," said junior catcher Michele Rupard, the 2014 HAAC Player of the Year. "It was new for us."
The format will stay the same for this season, but the Eagles won't have to go very far to play its opening round games. Central Methodist learned Tuesday that it will play in the Columbia, Mo., bracket.�Central Methodist will only have to travel 30 minutes to play in a national tournament.
"If you saw our reaction when we found out, everyone was super excited," Utley said. "We're hoping to get a huge crowd to come out since we're so close."
Four years ago, the 5-foot-10-inch right-hander came to Fayette after leading her high school team to a runner-up finish in the Class 2 state tournament in 2009. After being an All-State pitcher at Trenton, Utley came to Central Methodist to continue her softball career.�No one knew then exactly what was in store for Utley, not even her head coach. It's not easy to predict if a recruit will end her career in the top 10 in NAIA history in wins, but that's exactly what Utley has done.
"We brought Aubrey in and we didn't know exactly what we were going to get," Central Methodist head coach Pat Reardon said. "We had another girl end up hurting her knee and wasn't able to pitch anymore."
Utley won 24 games her freshman year, then 26 games as a sophomore. By the start of her junior year, Bri Ford became the Eagles' No. 2 pitcher. Utley's win total dropped to 18 a season ago, but she continued to pitch just as effectively, leading Central Methodist to another national tournament appearance.�Heading into her senior season, Utley said she and Rupard became more focused on being consistent with each pitch. Having been a fastball pitcher her entire career, Utley developed a changeup that she seldom uses, but when she does, it's been extremely effective.
"I've always been a power pitcher," Utley said. "The offspeed (pitch) has never been my thing. But as we've gone through, I've been more successful whenever Michele does call the changeup. We seem to manufacture more outs."
Rupard was an outfielder as a freshman, but she moved to catcher at the beginning of last season. In addition to leading the team in hitting this season, she's developed a unique relationship with Utley when the two are battery mates for a game.
"We can just read each other's body language without even having to say anything," Rupard said. "It would be pretty comical if you just stared at us and watched some of our reactions during a game in certain situations."
Once the Eagles returned home from the Gulf Coast Invitational in March, they went on a tear. Central Methodist won 18 of its next 19 games and has only suffered losses to MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) and Lincoln (Mo.) since spring break.�During that run, the Eagles have primarily played doubleheaders. Utley pitches game one, while Ford pitches the second game. It's a rotation Reardon stuck with for the rest of the regular season.
Utley easily led the conference in victories this year, but Ford is third in the HAAC with 15 wins. She won more games than eight other No. 1 pitchers in the conference.�When coaches get together to pick All-Conference teams, a lot of times there will be debates for which team has the best player or the best pitcher. There hasn't been that debate in the HAAC over the past four years.
"It's not like it's a big sales pitch when you go into these meetings," Reardon said. "It's pretty much a done deal. There were some other great pitchers in the conference. They ran into bad timing, being in the same group as Aubrey."
The other conference coaches were also in agreement on something else.
"Most of them say they're glad she's graduating," Reardon said with a laugh.
Utley will receive her diploma from Central Methodist this afternoon (Saturday) and has plans to attend graduate school at Samford University, located in Birmingham, Ala., where she will enroll in the McWhorter School of Pharmacy. While receiving a diploma is the end of a college career for almost every student, Utley and her senior teammates will still have some unfinished business.
The Opening Round of the Columbia bracket begins Monday, and Central Methodist which received the No. 2 seed in the four-team bracket will face host team Columbia College in the first round. The Eagles and the Cougars will play at noon at Antimi Softball Complex, while LSU-Alexandria and Morningside face off at 2:30 p.m.�The bracket is a double-elimination format and is scheduled to conclude Wednesday. LSU-Alexandria, the top-seeded team in the bracket, was ranked No. 2 in the NAIA Top 25 final regular-season poll. Central Methodist remained at No. 14 and Columbia College and Morningside both received votes, but were outside the top 25 teams in the poll.
With all the buzz of finals and graduation, Reardon made things simple for his team this past week after winning the conference tournament.
"Pat warned us that we're going to go back to the basics, that we're going to go back to what we did the very first practice," Utley said. "We're going to get focused in and get ready for regionals. It's just another game."
Going back to the basics isn't a bad idea at all. It's hard to argue against a method that's produced 41 wins this season against only six losses.
"We just have to keep doing what we're doing," Utley said. "We like to joke around and our motto this year has been 'Focused Fun.' We just have to keep doing that."
