Herbst caps high school career with Miss Softball honor

<p>BLOOMINGTON</p><p>Abby Herbst pitched the first two innings for the South All-Star team on Saturday, though her day was just getting started.</p><p>The former Center Grove right-hander added to her lengthy list of softball accomplishments by being named Indiana’s Miss Softball at Indiana University’s Andy Mohr Field.</p><p>The presentation was made after the fifth inning of the annual Indiana All-Star Classic.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>“It’s something that I’ve dreamed about since I was a freshman, and even when I was younger than that,” said Herbst, a member of the South squad that lost, 9-4, to the North All-Stars. “This means a lot, and I was up against some really good players, so I’m just proud that everyone thought I was worthy enough.</p><p>“I was a little nervous, but I knew I would have been happy for anybody that won. All of them are phenomenal players.”</p><p>The other Miss Softball finalists were Jenna Towle (Lake Central), Mackenzie Rust (Leo), Lexi Carver (Owen Valley) and Hannah Hood (Castle).</p><p>Herbst is the third Center Grove player to win Miss Softball since the award was introduced in 1993. The others are Darcy Wood (2004) and Mallory Baker (2015), while another former Johnson County player, Whiteland’s LeAnne Eddington, won in 1997.</p><p>Ironically, it was after Baker’s class won a Class 4A state championship that Herbst became the Trojans’ ace pitcher as a freshman. Her first outing, a 5-2 home defeat of Pendleton Heights, touched off a high school career in which Herbst posted a 71-6 record to go along with a career earned-run average of 0.80.</p><p>Herbst’s complete-game shutout of Leo earlier this month led to Center Grove’s seventh state softball title. On Saturday, she received support from her family as parents, Bob and Susan, and older sisters, Jill and Rachel, were seated behind home plate.</p><p>“Abby started playing softball at about age 5. Both of her older sisters played, so that’s when she started,” Bob Herbst said. “I would say when she was 9 or 10 it was pretty apparent that she was pretty good.</p><p>“She’s worked so hard. Abby was always a great hitter, but as a pitcher it’s been the last four or five years that she’s really developed. It’s always great to see your kid work so hard and achieve what they wanted to.”</p><p>On Saturday, Herbst didn’t allow a hit, struck out three and walked one. She returned in the top of the final few frames to play first base, modeling the T-shirt with a No. 1 on the back presented to Miss Softball.</p><p>“It was a lot of fun just to be able to play with the best players in the state,” Herbst said. “I just wanted to come out and play the game that I love. I didn’t want to prove anything. I just wanted to have a blast.”</p><p>On August 27, Herbst leaves for the University of Wisconsin to begin the next part of her academic and athletic journeys. She carried a 4.2 grade-point average at Center Grove and plans to major in business in college with the goal being to eventually go to law school.</p><p>Alyssa Coleman has Herbst on her roster for only one season, but it’s one Center Grove’s first-year coach will always treasure. Herbst, she said, exemplifies everything a Miss Softball should be.</p><p>“Even in (Saturday’s) game you saw a different level that she was at that people have to elevate to just to keep up in trying to compete,” Coleman said. “The way she hits, the way she pitches, the way she leads. Everything comes to her with grace, and she plays with so much smoothness.</p><p>“Abby is wonderful. It’s been fun to watch her grow. Even in the past few months she keeps elevating as a human, and that’s what makes her so special.”</p>