<p>Center Grove made the most of its few scoring chances to knock off visiting Mooresville 3-0 in a battle of top-10 softball teams Thursday.</p>
<p>The Trojans managed just three hits and had just six baserunners in total against Mooresville ace Camiryn Henry but still turned those opportunities into three runs. Those and some stellar pitching from Abby Herbst were enough to keep the Class 4A No. 1 Trojans undefeated on the season at 23-0.</p>
<p>“This was not an easy game. We’ve been preparing for it all week and we were ready to come out and play hard,” said Herbst, who improved to 14-0. “We knew that this was a future semistate opponent so we knew that we had to play hard and show them what we’ve got.”</p>
<p>Center Grove scored what proved to be the only run it would need in the second. After Herbst was hit by a pitch and replaced on the bases by courtesy runner Addie Homeier, Brooke York laced a double into the right-center gap for a 1-0 lead.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>The Trojans didn’t get another baserunner until the sixth as Henry mowed through their lineup, setting down 10 in a row at one stretch.</p>
<p>“We have not seen a pitcher like that this year,” Center Grove coach Russ Milligan said. “We have not seen an elite-level pitcher and that’s what she is. But the fact that we didn’t strike out a lot, I knew that at some point we’d catch her making a mistake.”</p>
<p>The break Center Grove needed came when pinch hitter Lauren Wackerly led off the sixth by drawing a walk. That broke the spell Henry had over the Trojans, who followed with a bunt single by Piper Belden, a sacrifice bunt from Addison Osborn and an intentional walk to Jordyn Rudd to load the bases.</p>
<p>“That was amazing. That was a phenomenal at-bat,” Herbst said of Wackerly’s walk. “Especially coming off the bench. That was amazing. She couldn’t have done a better job.”</p>
<p>Herbst then hammered a pitch into right field to score two runs and give Center Grove some much-needed breathing room.</p>
<p>“That’s happened a couple of times with Jordyn getting walked. It just pushes me to do better,” Herbst said. “I know everybody was counting on me to get a hit and I knew that we needed the insurance runs so I knew I needed to get the ball out of the infield.”</p>
<p>With the way Herbst was pitching, she didn’t need many runs. Mooresville (19-4), ranked sixth in Class 4A, outhit Center Grove 4-3 but only twice did the Pioneers hit a ball out of the infield.</p>
<p>“Abby, I mean come on. She was great,” Milligan said. “(Mooresville) gets the first two batters on (in the fourth) and what does she do? She strikes out the next three girls in a row. That’s just tough. You can’t coach that. That’s a kid that has developed the mental aspect of the game and has the willingness to say that they got a couple of things, but we can’t let that happen anymore. She’s just tough.”</p>
<p>Herbst struck out eight and walked two over seven innings to get the win while Henry (11-3) allowed three runs on three hits in six innings with two strikeouts and two walks to suffer the loss.</p>
<p>Center Grove hosts the Johnson County tournament on Saturday.</p>
