TigerSportsZone
Home

Football

Volleyball

Cross Country

Tennis

Golf

Men's Basketball

Women's Basketball

Baseball

Softball

Wrestling

Track & Field

Tiger Debs

Cheer Squad

Facilities

Other Info

Can't get to the game? Don't worry, we've got ya covered.
Click here for the live broadcast.

Anastos the Amazing: Tiger sophomore continues great season

3/22/2008

Jessica Hamilton has played with Jessika Anastos since they were 11 years old. The two, currently sophomores on the Fort Hays State University softball team, went to Broomfield High School in Colorado and played for the Colorado Commotion, helping lead the team to a USSSA state championship and a national runner-up finish.

For years, Hamilton has seen Anastos' incredible hitting ability, ability that college coaches across the country are witnessing this spring.

"She is an amazing player," Hamilton said. "For the most part, she has always hit the ball hard and done amazing things."

Anastos, in the middle of an incredible season, showcased her impressive talent in the three doubleheaders this week at Tiger Stadium.

The sophomore catcher, moved to designated player because of a shoulder injury, went 14-for-18 (.778 batting average) with two home runs, seven runs scored and six RBI in six games against West Texas A&M and Cameron University (Okla.)

Helped by fast hands and strong plate discipline, Anastos reached base in her last 16 plate appearances and didn't make an out the final four games.

"She just goes up there and she does what she does and she is on a good roll and I hope she keeps going," Hamilton said. "I know she will because she is a very good player."

Anastos, the reigning Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Player of the Week, should pick up her second straight honor after her performances this past week. By season's end, though, Anastos could pick up hardware that no Fort Hays softball player has achieved -- NCAA All-American honors.

Anastos' season line has never been matched in the MIAA and rarely, at any level, has someone posted such unbelievable numbers. After 34 games, she is batting .573 with a .611 on-base percentage and a 1.063 slugging percentage.

"She is a tough out, she stays balanced well and throws her hands well," Cameron head coach Richie Nye said. "It is tough. We couldn't find a way to get her out. She seemed to find a hole all the time. She is a good player."

The 5-foot-7 sophomore and team's cleanup hitter, Anastos tied the Fort Hays single season home run record with her 11th homer on a three-run blast against West Texas A&M on Thursday. She has hit 11 homers, 12 doubles, driven in 35 runs and scored 34 times this year.

Anastos also has collected 19 multi-hit games and will carry a season-high 10 game hitting streak into Tuesday's contests against Newman University.

If she continues at the current pace, Anastos could break several conference and school single season records. (all Fort Hays records start in 1999 when the Tigers joined NCAA Div. II. The NAIA records from previous seasons are incomplete).

Fort Hays softball coach Tonja Hadley called Anastos' season the best run she has ever seen.

"She is just a very talented hitter," Hadley said earlier this week. "A gutty kid, a gritty kid, when she has a focus she is pretty tough to beat."

Opposing coaches and teammates have offered similar praise.

"She is a great hitter," Tiger senior outfielder Anna Herl said. "She is talented and she just lets her abilities take over in the box. She is fun to watch."

"If there is anything thrown in the strike zone, she is going to hit it," West Texas head coach Kevin Blaskowski said. "She is in the upper echelon. ...She is a tough out and has a great approach to hitting."

Anastos, coached by her dad, John Anastos, growing up, has kept the same approach. She has a certain pre-pitch routine and simply looks to hit the ball hard.

"I haven't made any adjustments," she said.

It's worked at Fort Hays.

As a freshman, Anastos earned second team All-MIAA designated player honors after she hit .403 in 36 games. She would have finished third in the conference batting race, but a knee injury sidelined her for 21 games. Anastos didn't play in enough games to qualify for the batting title.

This season, Anastos started on a hot streak, a streak that hasn't stopped. She went 14-for-18 with three homers at the Colorado State-Pueblo tournament on Feb. 9 to 10.

"I feel like I played the weekend of my life in Colorado," she said. "If I pick any time, it would be that. I felt like I was at my best."

Anastos enjoyed a similar run this past week, a stretch that raised her average nearly 50 points and tied the school record for homers. In the first game against Cameron, she singled to left on a 3-2 pitch on her first at-bat.

Anastos reached on an error in her second at-bat on a hard hit grounder that Cameron shortstop Megan Young tried to backhand. The ball ticked off her glove and Anastos was safe. She singled between third base and shortstop in her third appearance and smacked a double off the center field wall in her last at-bat.

"She seems to me to be real balanced," Nye said. "She doesn't get fooled on offspeed pitches, so she can adjust to any speed and her timing allows her to be able to go to the pitch. Not being fooled, good timing and good hand eye coordination equals a lot of solid contact."

In Game 2, Anastos cracked a first pitch double off the center field wall in the first inning. Two innings later, she hit a long single when she lined a ball off the left field fence. Her third at-bat yielded a double to right-center and she walked her fourth time up, capping another brilliant stretch to a remarkable season.

"She is definitely a good hitter," Nye said. "She sprayed the whole field, that's one thing that helps when a hitter can go to the right side and the left side consistently. It is tough to pitch to her."

Sports Reporter Conor Nicholl can be reached at (785) 628-1081 Ext. 127, or at

cnicholl@dailynews.net.

---

---

---

---