MIDDLEBURG - Middleburg High softball coach Ashley Houston has been pretty stout in her profession of strength and speed making for better athletes; including her girl's softball team, as athletes new and old have been waking at 7 a.m. and enduring Houston's uniquely named cross fit type workout hours as early as July.
"We do play fall softball and the players do play summer ball, so the fitness level is important to have them fit and strong for our spring season," said Houston, who got the first team title for Middleburg sports in 2022. "We have had plenty of games that have been won in the last few innings. This makes that happen."
In the Middleburg High weight room, Houston demonstrated her exercises of choice with an explanation of it's value to the game of softball; loose hips, explosive jumping and side-to-side flexibility.
"Softball has a lot of stop and go moves; sideways to full sprint for stealing bases and vertical moves to snag line drives in the infield," said Houston. "Outfield speed and endurance are obvious and we had one of the fastest centerfielders who is also a track standout (Mika Wesley, 100 and 200-meter dashes)."
Houston and the other girl's sports teams at Middleburg have adapted the explosive type workouts into their preseason regimes with the Broncos girl's weightlifting team roster filled with softball players (KK Hagen, Carlee and Caylee Johnson, Ari Seibel and track athletes (Madison Underwood, discus).