Loras College Athletics

The 2026 season marked the 17th for head coach Ashley Winter. In her time at the helm, Winter has coached 58 Academic All-Conference selections, 32 All-Conference selections, 11 All-Region selections and one All-American.

The 2026 season was a historic one for Winter's squad. Her team set a single season record in wins, finishing with 31 on the year. Loras found success early in the year, going 8-2 in Flordia before sweeping back-to-back doubleheaders against Monmouth and Cornell. The Duhawks earned three sweeps in conference, one of them being No. 23 Central College in back-to-back years. The Duhawks once again earned the No. 4 seed in the A-R-C tournament. There they took down Central for the third time, 5-0, before taking down the No. 1 seed and No. 23 team in the country, Wartburg College Knights to advance to the programs first Conference Championship game, where they would come up short to No. 10 Simpson College. Two days after falling in the championship game, Loras heard their name called during the selection show and earned the programs first NCAA Tournament bid. At the NCAA tournament, Loras won their opening round game against No. 24 Rochester University before defeating the regional host and No. 4 team in the country, Trine University, to advance to the regional final. In the regional final, Trine used an impressive comeback to sweep the final doubleheader of the year and advance. Kaili Henning earned the first conference major award under Winter, earning A-R-C Pitcher of the Year. Henning, along with four other teammates earned All-Conference honors. Kiya Steger took home First-Team honors, while Ava Franklin and Dana Skorich earned Second-Team recognition. Ellie Baker capped off the list with a Honorable Mention nod. Henning would also earn Second-Team NFCA All-Region recognition, along with Steger, while Baker earned Third-Team All-Region honors. The Duhawks set a handful of team records along with some individual records. As a team, the 2026 Duhawks hold the record for single season hits (402), runs (244), RBIs (222), at-bats (1,274), pitching strikeouts (269), and tied a season high with 12 shutouts. 

In 2025, Loras finished the year 22-15, earning themselves the No. 4 seed in the A-R-C tournament. The Purple and Gold started the year 4-0 at the Blue Angel Invite in Peoria, Ill. The Duhawks earned three season sweeps in conference play, including sweeping No. 23 Central College for the first time in program history on senior day.

In 2023, Loras finished with a 21-15 record that included a 9-7 mark in A-R-C play. The Duhawks had sucess early in the season, going 8-2 on their spring break trip to THE Spring games in Flordia, including a 1-0 win over No. 9 Bethel Univeristy. In 2024, the Duhawks compiled a 20-16 record with a 7-9 conference record.

In 2022, Winter led the Duhawks to one of their best seasons in program history, kicking the season off with a nine-game winning streak that featured a no-hitter, five shutouts and two victories by the eight-run rule behind stellar pitcher Ashlyn Hemm. The Duhawks finished the year with a 22-10 overall record as Hemm cemented herself in program history as the new single season strikeouts leader (214), single game strikeouts leader (20) while grabbing all-conference and all-region accolades. As a collective, the Duhawks' pitching excelled with a record-setting 235 total strikeouts on the year while walking only 73 and recording 12 shutouts. The Duhawks' strength this season also saw them land their first-ever national ranking by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, climbing as high as No. 22 on Apr. 5, 2022. 

In 2017, Winter lead the Duhawks to a 23-12 record. The 23-win season was the most wins since 1998. The team started the season with a nine-game winning streak, the best start in program history. During the 2017 season, the team set Loras’ season batting average record at .341 as well as Loras’ season doubles record with 70.

Winter has led Loras to five appearances in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC)/American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament, which included the program's first tournament win in the 2011 season and a first round win in 2017. From 2012-14, Winter served as the IIAC representative on the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee.

In July 2009, Winter was named the Iowa Conference’s nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. In 2011, she was inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Softball Hall of Fame. She was also named to the Wahlert Catholic High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012 and Wartburg College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

Winter graduated from Wartburg College where she earned her degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing. During her softball playing career with the Knights, she was a first team All-Iowa Conference selection in 2008 and a two-time second team pick as a first baseman. In her final season, Winter hit .400 and was in the top-five in the IIAC in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, runs and homeruns. Winter helped Wartburg advance to the NCAA Tournament in three of her four seasons.

In addition to her time on the diamond, Winter was also a four-year member of the Knights volleyball team where she was a first team All-Iowa Conference selection each season from her middle hitter position. As a senior, Winter was the league MVP and first team All-American, setting the all-time kills record in the process.

Ashley resides in Dubuque with her husband, Bud and daughters Callie and Josie.