Life comes at you pretty fast.
Jordyn Rudd had just caught a bullpen session as if it were any other day, but if the Northwestern sophomore needed any sort of reminder that we are living in a different time, it came during a team meeting in the second week of March.
"We all kind of sat down just to talk about where things were at at the time and to update us on where we were with all this," Rudd recalled. "We got an email in the middle of that meeting, and they basically told the whole team we were done — and we all just kind of sat there and lost it. It was a little rough.
"We sat there for at least an hour, hour and a half, all just together comforting each other. It was a pretty intense moment, and it’s still kind of surreal. I never thought I’d be at home this time of year just sitting on the couch."
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Had the college softball season progressed as planned, Rudd and the Wildcats would have been on the road this weekend against Wisconsin — giving Rudd a rare opportunity to play against former Center Grove teammate and current Badger freshman Abby Herbst. But the COVID-19 pandemic threw a big wet blanket over the entire sports world, putting that nascent rivalry on hold for another year.
Both ex-Trojans were looking forward to the matchup.
"We were really excited, especially for our families to see each other," Rudd said. "We were kind of just excited to see the matchup, how it would all happen, because I’ve rarely played against Abby, so it’d be pretty cool."
Both enjoyed tremendous success on the diamond at Center Grove, with each winning one state championship and Herbst claiming Miss Softball honors last spring.
Rudd made an instant impact at the collegiate level, ripping a three-run double in her first at-bat and hitting two home runs in her second game. She earned first team All-Big Ten honors as a freshman backstop, leading the Wildcats in batting average (.328), hits (57), RBIs (51) and doubles (13).
In Northwestern’s 23 games during this abbreviated season, Rudd had driven in a team-high 22 runs.
Herbst, meanwhile, got her first taste of the Big Ten this year, playing in 22 games and starting 10 as a designated player and first baseman. She had knocked in seven runs and posted an on-base percentage of .316 — but with a senior and junior in front of her, she never got to step inside the pitching circle for the Badgers.
The hope is that she’ll be able to start earning some innings in 2021.
"They also have never had a pitcher-hitter before," Herbst explained, "so they were still trying to figure out how to divide my time. I think over the years it’ll get better with that kind of thing."
For now, the two former teammates are missing the game but glad to be back home with their families. Both have been doing their best to stay fit on their own, in part by taking their dogs on long walks and hitting balls in their garages. They’ve been doing the workouts that their respective strength and conditioning coaches have been sending along; Herbst is doing a lot of yoga, while Rudd has been doing some sprint work and catching for her younger sister Alexis, a junior pitcher at Center Grove who also had her 2020 season taken away.
"That’s helpful, having a sister that pitches," Rudd said. "It’s really nice having that."
After the college season was cut short, the NCAA decided to award seniors on all spring teams another year of eligibility. Herbst expects that most of her Wisconsin teammates who had already graduated or are on track to do so next month won’t use it, though, choosing instead to move on to the real world.
Rudd, on the other hand, is already planning to take advantage of the extra season, even if hers won’t come until 2023.
"When people say that college softball goes by quick and your career ends quickly, they weren’t kidding," she said. "I mean, I just finished my second season, technically, and I feel like I’m just a freshman.
"Even if we had played a full season, I would like to play another."
For Herbst, who plans to major in management and human resources before going on to law school, a potential fifth year is too far into the future to know whether she’ll stick around Madison that long.
"It hasn’t even been a thought in my mind yet, just because I don’t know how these next few years are going to go, or what I’m going to need credits-wise or where my career’s going to take me," Herbst said. "It’s nice to have the option, though, that’s for sure."
Even if Herbst only stays through three more years, she’ll have a series against Rudd and Northwestern in each of those years.
Knowing how much softball she still has left in front of her made this spring’s bitter pill a little easier to swallow.
"I was really disappointed for all of the seniors everywhere, not just the ones on my team," Herbst said, "because it’s just such a horrible way to have your season ended abruptly like that.Â
"I definitely have it a lot better than a lot of people do, so that’s the perspective I’m trying to have on the situation."
