After earning second-team All-State honors following a breakout 2022 season, the follow-up campaign has been every bit as monstrous at the plate for a Pella Softball Junior.
Ava Curry enters the postseason pushing her batting average above the .500 mark and with several statistical category top ten placements in Class 4A. Curry is slashing .505/.573/.888, and her on base clip ranks 2nd best in 4A, as does her 31 stolen bases. Curry’s 95 total bases and batting average are both 5th best in the class as well.
By the time this season is over, she will have completed one of the most successful batting seasons in Dutch program history — joining the likes of Maddie Parks in 2019 (.505/.566/.677 with 24 stolen bases) and Sara Tallman in 2015 (.625/.667/.758 with 59 stolen bases) and 2016 (.514/.571/.613 with 16 stolen bases) — as well as her own performance last year. Curry is coming off of a remarkable sophomore campaign, compiling a .533/.590/.885 slash line, with 28 extra base hits last summer.
Both Curry and teammate Katie Scheckel have eight home runs — tied with each other for the highest mark in the program dating back to the Bound/Quikstats-era that began in 2009. Ava hit six home runs last year, which tied the previous high mark by Mackenzie Anthony in 2011.
Ava might be the best combination of speed and power in the state heading into the postseason; the next closest stolen base number among those in the top 10 in total bases has 14 — Curry has 17 more. That speed has been the difference her game; the junior only nabbed four bases successfully in 2022.
The future Drake Bulldog will be key in Pella’s postseason if they are to have success. Coverage of the Dutch vs. Bombers regional softball opener begins at 6:45 Thursday evening on 92.1 KRLS and on Pella Dutch Live.