Centerburg's Abby Herren ties Ohio high school softball HR record

Centerburg shortstop Abby Herren swings in the on-deck circle before the first inning of a Division V district tournament first-round game against Marion Pleasant on May 14. A few minutes later, Herren hit her 23rd home run of the season, tying the state's single-season record.

Now, Herren is tied with Warren Champion’s Gabby Gradishar (2024), Perrysburg’s Hayley Griggs (2025) and Carly Wagers of Williamsburg (2017). Gradishar is a great-niece of onetime Ohio State football player and Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Randy Gradishar.

Herren did not envision herself ending up in the company of Straight or anyone else on those lists. She hit one home run as a freshman, nine as a sophomore and 10 last year.

“I just hit for my team,” she said. “That’s what I try to do at least, just roll with it, look for pitches I can actually hit. Keep my strikeouts low and walks high. If I can get a walk, I’ll take it.

“It’s definitely been paying more attention to my at-bat, seeing what pitches I can get and understand how I hit. I understand my at-bats more than I used to. I used to swing at a lot of pitches that were definitely not good pitches to swing at, so I try more now to just keep a long at-bat and at least get a walk.”

Herren’s strikeout in the second inning May 14 was only her second all year.

She added singles in the fourth and sixth innings, and sophomore Jazmyn Larimore’s grand slam in the bottom of the sixth invoked the mercy rule.

Centerburg shortstop Abby Herren takes fielding practice before a Division V district tournament first-round game against Marion Pleasant on May 14. Herren later hit her 23rd home run of the season, tying the state's single-season record.

Centerburg coach Chuck Shank expects Herren’s impact to last long after her graduation.

“We hope players like Abby and Jazmyn can motivate girls to play,” Shank said, noting Centerburg has just 14 players this spring and no junior varsity team. “We had almost 40 girls come to our youth camp.  To have these girls work with them, they ate it up.”

Larimore, an infielder, might end up following in Herren’s footsteps. She has 10 home runs and is batting .636 after going deep only once as a freshman.

“I told her on senior night that she makes me want to be better,” Larimore said. “She makes everybody else want to be better. That’s helped us all so much. We have someone pushing us every day. Working with her in the gym, she never skips a rep. It’s just awesome.”

High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Centerburg's Abby Herren ties OHSAA softball home run record