It sounds like Larkin junior Ali Herrick couldn’t help but gravitate to her sport of choice.
Herrick, who plays third base and first base, is in her third varsity season for the Royals. She has two older sisters who also played softball, so she was introduced to the game at age 3.
Since then, she’s made it her own.
“We’re a big softball family,” said Herrick, Jamie and Nikki’s youngest daughter. “When I could walk, a glove was put in my hand and I was taught how to throw. It’s been about 13 years now.”
It’s with a bat, however, that Herrick really stands out from the crowd.
The Royals’ leading hitter with a .508 batting average, Herrick was at it again Tuesday in a rare up-and-down day for her during a 4-3 Upstate Eight Conference loss to visiting West Aurora.
Her two-out line drive in the seventh bounced off the plastic yellow tile on the top rail of the fence in center and back onto the field for a two-run double, barely missing a homer that would have sent the game into extra innings.
Junior pitcher Ally Lambert retired the next hitter for her ninth strikeout to secure the win for West Aurora (15-14, 11-3).
Earlier, Lambert sandwiched two strikeouts of Herrick around a single. That’s noteworthy since the left-handed batter entered the game with just two strikeouts on the season for Larkin (10-14, 5-6).
“What can you do? It happens,” Herrick said philosophically.
Lambert confirmed that she just tried to pitch her game.
“We were trying to stay a lot outside and not so much inside because we were seeing the ump’s zone favored it,” she said. “That’s about it.
“My curve was pretty good and my defense was good behind me. Just knowing that helped.”
Four errors didn’t help Larkin’s cause.
Herrick pointed out that her oldest sister, Maya, now 25, played on a state championship team in high school in Winona, Minnesota, before the family moved to Illinois.
Chelsea, the middle sister, is a junior pitcher/outfielder at Judson.
“We moved here when I was about 8, right before COVID started,” Ali Herrick said. “We say I grew up here because it’s the place I’ve been the longest.”
An Illinois Coaches Association third team all-state selection last season, Herrick hopes to play at the next level and has had interest from Wisconsin-Whitewater and Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
She leads Larkin this spring with 32 runs, eight doubles, six triples, five home runs and 43 RBIs.
Herrick, who is often pitched around or intentionally walked, has drawn 22 walks and been hit three times, boosting her team-leading on-base percentage to .659.
“Sometimes, it can get stressful waiting for my pitch,” she said. “I just have to tell myself to keep in my swing. My travel coach tells me I need to stay relaxed and let them come to me. I try not to swing too much out of my zone and I know my zone really well.
“I’m not a particular inside, outside, high or low pitch hitter. I like them all, honestly. Anything good, I like to swing at. There’s so many things trying to hit it oppo or down the line. I just try to hit it where they take me, let the pitcher lead the way.”
She credited her Elgin-based Athletes HQ travel team coach Ashley Lentine with improving her hitting.
“I call her the miracle worker — she’s so amazing,” Herrick said. “She finds whatever is going on in your swing and fixes it like that.”
Megan Johnson-Morado, in her first year as Larkin’s coach, feels much the same about Herrick.
“Ali is just an absolute force for us and gets us going every single game,” Johnson-Morado said. “Luckily, we have a pretty solid 1-2-3 in front of her. She’s really something special.”
