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Supporters in their portable folding chairs are cheering for her.

“Thataway, Ace!�

Teammates in the dugout are complimenting her work.

When your name is Acelynn-Rose Heston and you’re a dominant softball pitcher, the nickname comes as easy as the strikeouts.

Ace. It’s unmistakable. It’s fitting. It’s perfect.

Acelynn-Rose Heston — aka “Ace� — is an ascending sophomore at Mica Mountain High School. Entering the first round of the — Mica Mountain, seeded seventh in Class 4A, hosts No. 10 Saguaro Scottsdale at 11 a.m. Saturday — Ace ranks sixth in the state with 198 strikeouts. She’s 15-6 with a 1.64 ERA.

Watching the 5-foot-7 right-hander befuddle Walden Grove’s hitters on a recent afternoon, you’d think it was all preordained — that she was born to pitch and destined for greatness.

But Ace’s journey is actually one of struggle and determination.

Her parents, Jeremy and Shawna, had no idea when they named her that she’d become a pitcher someday.

“It is 100% a coincidence,� Shawna said, laughing. “I didn’t even know ace was a thing for pitchers. I had no clue.�

They liked the name Aislynn but worried that it’d be mispronounced. So they went with a more phonetic spelling.

That’s the origin story of Acelynn. How she became an ace pitcher is a more protracted tale.

Persistence pays off

When she’d watch baseball and softball games at Empire High, Ace always was drawn to the pitcher. That also happened to be the primary position her older brother, Shawnkelly, played.

Ace began playing softball at age 9. One of her friends was a pitcher. She showed Ace a few pitches one day. The friend’s mom suggested that Ace take lessons. Shawna initially resisted, knowing how stressful being the mother of a pitcher could be. But Ace wanted to give it a try. How could Shawna say no?

It did not go well at first.

“I was terrible,� Ace said. “I was throwing it over the backstop.�

Turning Ace into an ace required patience. Her pitching coach, Stan Rome, had plenty. But progress was slow.

“At one point he looked at me like, ‘I don’t know if this is her future,’ � Shawna said. “She had a strong arm. She had a fast pitch when she was little. But … she was wild.�

It took almost a year for Ace to start figuring it out. She easily could have given up somewhere along the way. But that’s not in her nature.

“She is a very determined person,� her mother said. “If she wants something, she will work tirelessly to achieve it.�

Mica Mountain coach Steve Garcia described Ace as “self-motivated.� She “would go out of her way to reach out to me� for extra infield practice when she was training to be a shortstop, said Garcia, whose daughter, Mia, is a senior third baseman for the Thunderbolts.

Shawna said Ace will spend up to 10 hours on weekends — during the already busy spring season — doing drills in the backyard. Her motivation, in part, comes from her brothers, the aforementioned Shawnkelly and younger bro J.J.

“Both her brothers are super smart. Acelynn has always struggled. She has to put in a lot of effort and work for her grades,� Shawna said. “With softball, it was the same type of thing. That hard work and ethic carried over.�

Excelling at softball — especially as a pitcher — gave Ace her own way to stand out, which is sometimes hard to do for a middle child. There’s no place she’d rather be than in the circle.

“I like the stress,� Ace said. “I like feeling the pressure. I like having the eyes on me.�

Learning, maturing

Ace performed well as a freshman, going 8-6 with a 2.66 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 94â…” innings. She also batted .453 while helping Mica Mountain win a postseason game for the first time in its brief history. Ace threw a three-hit shutout vs. Mesquite before yielding one run vs. Coconino in a 1-0 defeat.

But Ace still had critical work to do in an important area: Her comportment.

If calls didn’t go her way, she would show up the umpire. If the game didn’t go her way, it was evident in her body language.

Her parents weren’t having it. Shawna recalled her message to Ace:

“Baby girl, whether you win or lose, whether you have a great day pitching or not, I am always in your corner. I will always love you, and I’m always proud of you.

“However, when you show that attitude on the field, when you are defeated or you give the blue (the umpire) that look, that attitude, throw your hand out like, ‘What?’ … that sort of thing, it’s disrespectful to the blue, who is giving his time, whether you like his calls or not. It’s disrespectful to your team, and it’s disrespectful to your coach. And that I am not proud of.

“I will never be upset because you had a bad day pitching. I will never be upset because your team lost. I will be upset if you give out attitude, because that’s one thing we are not going to do.�

Shawna gives Garcia credit for helping Ace learn how to handle herself. He teaches all of his players to “stay the course� no matter the circumstances.

“She was a little immature,� Garcia said. “But she had never been taught that. She’s now moving into (high school), and her body language speaks volumes. It doesn’t matter if you’re down by one or if you’re down by 10. You should always have the same body language, the same demeanor and keep pressing forward.

“She’s understanding that now.�

In the game against Walden Grove on April 17, Mica Mountain fell behind 2-0. Ace’s demeanor never changed. She was all business. She worked quickly and efficiently. The Thunderbolts rallied for a 16-3, run-rule victory.

“This year,� Ace said, “I feel like if I get down, I can get out of it.�

She also pitched smartly. The Red Wolves had seen her a few weeks earlier. “So I had a feeling coming in that they were going to time me up,� she said.

Garcia had the same thought, so he mostly called fastballs early in the game — saving Ace’s best pitch, her changeup, for subsequent trips through the batting order. She also used her curveball to great effect.

Walden Grove starter Oliviah Valdez appeared to throw harder, but Ace kept the Red Wolves off-balance by changing speeds and eye levels. She allowed three hits and logged eight strikeouts in six innings. She also induced, by my count, four popups.

Ace ended the regular season with a pair of one-hit shutouts against Douglas and Desert View, living up to her name and then some.

“She just epitomizes everything we strive for — hard work, embracing the grind, understanding the game, always 110%, always locked in and ready to play,� Garcia said. “She’s a fierce competitor. She’s learned to be a better pitcher.�