Softball has to be Priority for Miss Basketball Haven Ford

Shortstop Haven Ford is hitting .619 with 84 RBI's in 40 games going into Friday's state semifinal game against Ballard.

Rowan County star Haven Ford has the kind of dilemma almost any high school athlete in Kentucky would love to have.

She averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 red pounds, 5.2 assists and 5.2 steals per game last basketball season when Rowan went 24-8. She finished her six-year Rowan career with 3,325 points and 1,458 rebounds and was named Kentucky’s Miss Basketball. That automatically put her on the Kentucky all-star team — wearing jersey No. 1 — that will face Indiana at Owensboro Friday and then Indianapolis Saturday.

However, the Murray State signee hopes she won’t be playing in either game this weekend because her Rowan County softball team faces defending state champion Ballard in the state tournament semifinals Friday at 11 a.m.

Her softball numbers might be even more incredible than her basketball numbers. In 40 games, she’s hitting .619 and 36 of her 78 hits for Rowan (35-4) have been for extra bases — 19 home runs, 12 doubles and five triples. The shortstop leads the state in RBI’s with 84 despite being walked 23 times. She’s also 47-for-47 on stolen bases. If a team walks her, she usually turns that into a quick trip to second base.

“I don’t look at a walk as a bad thing. I am getting on base, I can steal second and with our lineup I have full trust in teammates to get me in,” Ford said. “If they walk me our next batters can hit just as good as me.”

She’s most proud of her RBI numbers.

“All the numbers are great, but the RBI total is the main one for me. That is my job to make sure I am getting my teammates in (to score),” she said.

Ford never anticipated maybe becoming the first Kentucky high school athlete to have to choose between playing in a state championship event or the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Games.

“I knew our softball team (which has won 11 straight games) was really good and had the potential to make it this far,” Ford, who started playing softball before basketball, said. “We just focused on putting ourselves in a good position and the experience has been awesome.

“The all-star series and being Miss Basketball is really big and if we do lose Friday, then I will try to get to Owensboro in time to play in the game. My focus is on winning the state championship but if we happen to fall short Friday then I will try to honor my basketball commitment.”

She said the Kentucky all-star coaches and officials have been great considering she’s in a situation she never “pictured” herself in and says everyone “understands” her high school softball team has to be her priority.

“For me personally, I have never made it to a state tournament and competed in the Final Four. This is a one-time experience for me,” Ford said. “Actually, both of these are one-time experiences and I just had to pick one over the other. But either way it is a great experience. It will be something to look back on and say I was so glad I got to experience it. I just never thought both of these things would happen at the same time.”

Her positive attitude lets her see this is a win-win weekend. If she has to miss the Kentucky-Indiana games, it means she’s playing for a state softball championship. But if her softball team loses in the semifinals, she gets to wear jersey No. 1 in the all-star series.

And don’t forget she also won the Donna LJ Murphy Award given to a standout female senior basketball player who exemplifies the meaning of being a great student-athlete. Murphy was one of the early pioneers at Newport High School from 1972-76 when high school girls basketball was revived in Kentucky. She was Miss Basketball in 1976 when she averaged 35 points and 20 rebounds per game. She was also a state high jump champion in 1974 and all-region performer in volleyball.

“Winning Miss Basketball was great but the Donna Murphy Award was just as important,” Ford said. “I know the careers she had and how she is remembered. Winning an award named for her was special.”

Somehow, though, I think Murphy would agree with the selection based on all Ford has done — and can still do this weekend.