Sydney Herrmann has been 'killing it.' She delivered again to send Center Grove to regionals
MOORESVILLE — Sydney Herrmann is killing it and she's been doing it all spring. That was Center Grove softball coach Alyssa Coleman's initial bit of analysis of the senior first baseman, and her assessment is easily quantified. Herrmann has already reset her career-highs for average (.443), runs (21), RBIs (32) and doubles (10), and is one-off last season's high-water mark for hits (35).
The kid just doesn't go away, Coleman continued.
"Sydney shows the maturity of (someone) who has been on the big stage before and knows what she's doing. She believes in herself and she helps us win whether she gets the hit or not."
Herrmann was at the plate for the moment Wednesday night, stepping up with two on and two out in the third inning of a scoreless stalemate vs. Franklin Central.
And as a single angry cloud began spitting raindrops from overhead, the Dartmouth signee delivered the hit, sending a line drive off the centerfield fence that cleared the bases and had Herrmann triumphantly screaming to her teammates in the dugout from second base.
"She was throwing me a lot of changeups, so I was trying to look for a fastball," Herrmann said. "And once I got that one, I was attacking."
Following a brief weather delay — that single angry cloud invited friends and they had themselves a monsoon — Center Grove set about closing out the win with Riley Fuhr and Kara Biever holding a potent Flashes lineup to zero runs on six hits, while the bats tacked on an insurance tally in the sixth.
Final score: 3-0.
Center Grove is onto regionals for the second consecutive season and seventh time since 2015.
"We just keep reloading and we have people who are ready for the opportunity," Herrmann said. "That's just the team we are."
"When I look at the lineup, there's no one who can't do the job," added catcher Madisyn Tharpe, who uncorked a perfect throw to end the top of the fourth with a caught stealing. "And if one person doesn't, the next one picks them up."
Though they graduated a few key pieces from last year's semistate runner-up squad, including a pair of high-Division I commits, these Trojans are experienced and, in terms of talent, they are elite.
CG is 23-3 with a 224-6 run differential. It's batting nearly .400 as a team with 297 hits and 185 RBIs, and brings a trio of pitchers headlining a staff that boasts a collective 2.15 ERA and 152 strikeouts (freshman Sarah Riley, who's currently injured, rounds out the top-three).
"They're an interesting crew," Coleman said of her team. "They just keep doing their job and getting stronger throughout the year. Things don't really faze them. We found out pretty early they're a resilient group and — cool, I'm down. I'll never complain about that. They can take punches and punch right back."
Center Grove used the Horseshoe Classic in mid-April as a launching point, going 3-1 with the loss against top-5 Lake Central in a down-to-the-wire heavyweight bout, then harnessed the frustrations of a one-run loss to New Palestine at the end of April to launch them into May and their current 13-game win streak.
"The New Pal game put a sour taste in their mouth," Coleman said. "They've got a little of that piss and vinegar in them, I like that."
Now the Trojans, led by their seven seniors, await the winner of Brownsburg-Avon in Tuesday's regional championship. They beat both teams by a run during the season, besting the Bulldogs, 7-6, on April 17 and the Orioles, 10-9, on May 12.
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