Savannah Bananas to Ole Miss Softball: Ashton Lansdell Blazes Her Own Trail to the WCWS
When Ashton Lansdell stepped onto a varsity baseball field at Wheeler High School, she wasn’t just breaking barriers – she was rewriting them.
As the first female to pitch at the 7A level at Wheeler High School, Lansdell led them to their first-ever Regional Title in 2019. She didn’t care what lane she was “supposed” to stay in. She was too busy carving her own.
That journey started at just four years old. She dabbled in basketball and soccer, but her heart never left the baseball diamond – thanks in large part to her dad, who inspired her love for the game.
Now in 2025, she’s helping lead Ole Miss to its first-ever Women’s College World Series appearance. If you think this team is just happy to be here? Think again. Lansdell’s message to the doubters is simple:
“We’re still just heating up.”Ashton Lansdell
This isn’t just a Cinderella story. It’s the payoff for every injury, transfer, and comeback Lansdell has fought through, and she’s still only 24.
“I started out playing tee-ball because my dad played baseball,” she told Softball On SI on the phone Tuesday from Oklahoma City, her voice equal parts fired up and reflective. “I never wanted to switch. I loved baseball too much."
Even when the other girls jumped into softball, Lansdell stuck with her gut. That stubbornness, she says, is exactly what kept her on this path.
NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT ONE🚀
— USA Baseball WNT (@USABaseballWNT) August 9, 2023
Ashton Lansdell CRUSHES the first homer of the tournament to extend the USA lead‼️ pic.twitter.com/N7GuCHuzN9
At 17, she earned a spot on the USA Baseball Women’s National Team and helped bring home gold at the 2019 Pan-Am Championships. Just as the future seemed wide open, with a roster spot as the first female to pitch for Georgia Highlands, an injury, followed by the pandemic, forced her into a pause. She took a step back from the game, focused on healing, and started working at a car dealership, making good money and paying off college debt. It was an adult decision, the kind most athletes don’t expect to face so young. For a while, college ball was on pause, but the dream was only idling.
During this time, she enrolled at Kennesaw State to take classes, but the itch to compete never left.
“I couldn’t let it go,” she said. A call to her former coach, Val Perez, changed everything. Perez connected her with head coach Mike Larabee at Florida International, and Lansdell landed a 90 percent scholarship. She was the starting shortstop, ranking fourth in Conference USA and 40th nationally amongst leaders in steals.
Representing Team USA Women’s Baseball in 2023-2024 for the Women’s Baseball World Cup, acting as the team’s leadoff hitter. They fell just short of a Gold Medal earning Silver.
After two seasons at FIU, she entered the transfer portal in 2024, still chasing that dream of playing in the SEC. That’s when Ole Miss assistant Bobby Buchanan reached out, a fellow baseball mind who immediately saw her potential.
𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 👀 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 ⬇️
— FIU Softball (@FIUSoftball) July 17, 2023
Ashton Lansdell blasts first career HR against Clemson - one of 6⃣💣 during 2023#PawsUp pic.twitter.com/MjJVm5Dex9
What Lansdell didn’t know was just how stacked this new Rebel staff would be with head coach Jamie Trachsel hiring Ehren Earleywine and pitching legend Nancy Evans.
“The whole staff gets it," Lansdell added, saying that Trachsel tells them, “It’s a game of execution, but we’re also gonna have fun doing it.”
The Team Motto: “Don’t make the moment bigger than it is.”
Lansdell knows fun. Last summer, she played for the Savannah Bananas (shoutout again to Coach Perez for putting her name in the hat). She played in sold-out Minor League and MLB stadiums. She said, “It was an incredible experience, and everyone is a legit athlete that can play ball, it’s not just theatrics.”
This was one to mark off the bucket list, as she lived out yet another one of her childhood dreams. She’s also an original member of MLB’s Derby X, where she met Oklahoma softball icon Jocelyn Alo. The two have joked about facing off in a Bananas game with Lansdell pitching, Alo at the plate. It hasn’t happened yet… but fans would love to see it.
This World Series moment, though, hits different. Lansdell isn’t just chasing a title, she’s living out the motto tattooed on her calf:
“Dream until it’s your reality.”
Lansdell describes this Ole Miss team as one of the most genuine she’s ever played on.
“We like each other. We hang out off the field. We keep each other grounded.”
With 11 transfers and a healthy mix of veterans and rookies, they’ve created something special. And now? They’re rewriting Rebel history.
Talking to Lansdell was reminiscent of the 2008 team at Arizona State. The Sun Devils finished first in the Pac-10, but were still seeded sixth. The message? You don’t belong. Sound familiar?
That’s been the vibe around Ole Miss this season, too – constantly overlooked. After a dominant week vaulted them to No. 25 in both the NFCA Coaches Poll and the ESPN/USA Softball rankings, the Rebels haven’t stopped proving themselves. They posted a 42-19 record, went 11-13 in SEC play, and finished No. 16 in the NCAA RPI.
Ole Miss's stats speak louder than any ranking. As a team, the Rebels are batting .309, have scored 332 runs, and combined for 453 hits and 58 home runs. On the bases, they have swiped 71 of 83 bases.
Defensively, the Rebels have a .969 fielding percentage and have turned 11 double plays. In the circle, they have a staff ERA of 3.07, an opponent batting average of .239 and combined for 353 strikeouts.
As the season winds down for some of these seniors, their message is loud and clear: We’re not here by accident. We’re here because we belong. If there’s one lesson anyone can learn from sports its that rankings don’t always write history. Heart does.
Right now, Ashton Lansdell and Ole Miss have both.
“Follow your heart. Be true to yourself.”
This is what Lansdell would’ve told her younger self, and it’s exactly what she’s done. Every pivot, every comeback, every wild twist in her story has been guided by intuition, grit, and the courage to trust her gut. Being in the right place at the right time doesn’t happen by chance; it happens when you stay true to who you are, and Ashton Lansdell is living proof of that.
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Katie Burkhart is a former professional softball pitcher and Arizona State University alumna, where she was a three-time All-American and led the Sun Devils to a national championship. She played professionally in the U.S., Japan, and Italy, and has coached at the Division I level. She now provides private pitching instruction and mindset training for athletes of all levels. Katie is also the author of Mental Muscle and Beyond the Game, books focused on athletic performance and life after sports.