English Valleys Kennedy Axmear Tallies 500th Strikeout

NORTH ENGLISH—English Valleys senior Kennedy Axmear adds another accolade to a long and prolific career as a Bears. This one is her 500th strikeout for the softball team. 

In her freshman year, she only struck out 64 batters, but quickly jumped up to 170 total strikeouts her sophomore year. This is still her personal best for strikeouts in a season. 

Her junior season was statistically her best season as she finished with an ERA of 2.35, 156 strikeouts, an opponent batting average of 0.199 and a WHIP of 1.05.

This season she has a total of 137 strikeouts, and has held opponents to 2.42 earned runs per game. 

Axmear described earning the 500th strikeout with, “It feels great. It is not something I was looking for. I just come out here everyday and throw hard.”

English Valleys Head Coach Steve Hester spoke on his senior pitcher’s accomplishment with, “For Kennedy it shows how much work she has put in. For the program, you have to have some help with your catcher, Taylor Mikesell and Mia Ayer back in the day. It is not easy catching for someone who threw for over 500 strikeouts and she has done it. Kennedy has put in the work, that is consistent in every sport she plays and that shows.”