In Center Grove dugout, they like it loud

<p><em>&quot;Way to foul it off, Big Dog!&quot;</em></p><p><em>&quot;WOOF!&quot;</em></p><p><em>&quot;Way to foul it off, Big Dog!&quot;</em></p><p><em>&quot;WOOF WOOF!&quot;</em></p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>The call and response thunders out of the Center Grove dugout, audible to anyone at or nearby the stadium and even to those listening to an online broadcast.</p><p>Coordinated cheers are part of the routine for softball teams of all ages, but the Trojans have pumped up the volume — and the frequency — of theirs through their deep state tournament run.</p><p>Expect the decibel levels to reach a new peak at Purdue’s Bittinger Stadium this evening when Center Grove faces Leo for the Class 4A state championship.</p><p>&quot;We do it to not get in the other team’s heads, but show that we have energy and we are here to stay,&quot; senior pitcher Abby Herbst said.</p><p>The Trojans certainly aren’t the first or only softball team to employ a battery of pre-planned cheers; most of the ones they use, the players say, are variations of ones they’ve used on school or travel teams since they were 5 years old.</p><p>But they have been consistently making more noise than their opponents throughout their tournament run, and that extra energy boost has made a difference.</p><p>Being vocal on the bench when the team is at bat is something that’s been discussed throughout the season, first-year coach Alyssa Coleman said.</p><p>&quot;You have to choose to be positive; you have to choose to bring the energy,&quot; she said. &quot;And in games, it’s super fun to listen to.</p><p>&quot;You see any successful team, they like each other. They enjoy each other, and they appreciate their quirkiness, and I think our level of cheering has definitely increased because they’re starting to embrace each other more and more.&quot;</p><p>Most of the cheers the Trojans use are pretty standard encouragement fare — after a batter lays off a couple of pitches outside of the strike zone, for instance, teammates may offer support in the form of a simple chant:</p><p><em>&quot;G-O-O-D E-Y-E/good eye, good-good, good eye&quot;</em></p><p>Center Grove actually employs very few personalized cheers that they’ve specifically tailored to individuals on the team; the only one that Herbst could recall off the top of her head was &quot;Fear the Finch&quot; for junior infielder Kaci Finchum. But whether the cheers they use are old, new or perhaps a new twist on something old, it’s something that the Trojans have invested time and energy into perfecting.</p><p>Executing on the field, of course, is what makes the difference in the end, but keeping the team’s spirit high can serve as a bit of a performance booster.</p><p>Coleman is proud of what her team has accomplished in terms of spirit, noting that &quot;they’re not gifted in that department&quot; but that it’s become a point of pride all the way down the roster.</p><p>&quot;We really get better with our cheers as we go,&quot; senior shortstop Piper Belden said. &quot;There’s a couple that used to be really shaky, that did not sound good, but now they sound really clean and really smooth.&quot;</p><p>Helping the cause is the fact that the Trojans’ best player, Miss Softball candidate Herbst, also frequently serves as the head cheerleader in the dugout.</p><p>Herbst says that she’s fallen into that role in large part because she has &quot;the loudest and most annoying voice,&quot; but her teammates and coaches don’t necessarily agree with that self-deprecating assessment.</p><p>&quot;It’s just intense,&quot; Belden said. &quot;She has a very intense voice, and everybody just follows her voice.&quot;</p><p>&quot;She’s our lead alpha,&quot; Coleman agreed. &quot;When she gets into it, they get into it, and I love it.&quot;</p><p>As Center Grove has gotten closer and closer to its ultimate goal, the players have gotten progressively louder and more spirited, so fans in attendance at today’s title game or watching it on Fox Sports Indiana will no doubt hear them in peak form.</p><p>It may not be the personality that the Trojans thought they’d be taking on when the season started, but as it’s fallen into place, they’ve all just taken it and run with it — all the way to the state final.</p><p>&quot;In the beginning of our normal season, we just would do a lot of screaming versus straight cheers,&quot; Belden said, &quot;but now that we’ve kind of figured out that we’re more of a cheery team than just a screamy team, we kind of just go all the time. And once you get excited, you just can’t stop yelling, so we just keep going and going.&quot;</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><p><strong>Class 4A state softball championship</strong></p><p><p><strong>Center Grove (27-3) vs. Leo (25-1)</strong></p><p>When: 7:30 p.m. today</p><p>Where: Bittinger Stadium, Purdue University</p><p>Tickets: $10</p><p>TV: Fox Sports Indiana</p>[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="INSIDE" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>See today’s sports section for more on the Trojans going into tonight’s state championship game. INSIDE, PAGE C1</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]