Shore and Yergler named to the Illinois Coaches Association All-State Class 3A second team
By FRED KRONER
The original Dynamic Duo was the television version of Batman and Robin.
Mahomet-Seymour softball had a terrific replica last season in Aubrie Shore and Karley Yergler.
The two teen-agers had a series of heroic feats.
When the Bulldogs’ softball season ended in June, Yergler or Shore ranked first and second on the all-time single-season school lists for batting average, home runs, slugging percentage and doubles (they actually hold the top three spots in that category).
Their exploits enabled them to receive significant statewide notoriety. Shore, a senior, and Yergler, a junior, were chosen to the Illinois Coaches Association All-State Class 3A second team.
In the 22 years that the ICA has been recognizing all-staters, only one other M-S softball athlete was chosen for the second team (infielder Jaime Scott, 2011).
Shore is the first Bulldog to receive all-state status twice. She was a third-team pick as a sophomore in 2019. Her junior season, in 2020, was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m happy to be higher (ranked) than I was the last time,” Shore said.
In 2021, Yergler swatted 14 home runs, breaking the single-season total of 13 set by Shore in 2018.
This spring, Yergler compiled a .538 batting average, edging out Shore (who hit .526), for team supremacy, not just for this year, but for the all-time school list.
The previous best one-season M-S batting mark was .517 by Jessica Roberts in 2012.
Yergler had a slugging percentage of 1.183, another of the four school records she set this season. Shore’s 1.051 slugging percentage as a senior is second-best in the M-S record books.
Shore has the best season total for doubles at M-S, 16 as a sophomore. That total places her atop the school record books, followed by Yergler, who hammered 14 doubles this year. Shore also swatted 14 doubles as a senior and shares a tie for second in that category.
Both players are equally adept at pitching.
Yergler was the ace of the Bulldogs’ 16-8 team, finishing with an 11-6 record and 181 strikeouts in 103 innings. Shore was 4-0 with 34 strikeouts in 26 innings.
“I’m more of a pitcher who hits,” Yergler said. “I don’t spend too much time on hitting outside of practice. I focus on pitching. The hitting (exploits) surprises me.
“Since I was younger, I’ve hit the ball hard. I’ve never tried to place it. I swing and see what happens.”
Both Shore and Yergler are members of the Mattoon-based Premier Fast Pitch program. However, they are not teammates this summer.
Shore is on the 18-and-under team. Yergler is on the 16-and-under team.
Yergler pounded a school-record 30 extra-base hits this spring for M-S. Following Shore in the batting order, she didn’t feel pressure to deliver.
“A big thing during high school is that I was relaxed,” she said. “I had teammates who would back me up if I didn’t get a hit.”
Her summer travel team has already played tournaments in Tennessee, Colorado and Indiana since the high school season ended. They will be traveling to California later in the summer.
For Yergler, this summer is a key time in her recruitment. There has been no shortage of college coaches at the game sites.
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel real, walking around at the tournament and seeing all the college coaches there,” Yergler said. “It’s crazy.”
After missing out on her sophomore season – due to COVID-19 – she joined her travel team last summer for an abbreviated schedule.
“We were pretty local last year,” Yergler said.
When they did play, Division I college coaches weren’t out and about, which curtailed the early interest in Yergler.
Smaller schools — which were permitted to attend tournaments in 2020 — such as Judson College (in Elgin) and St. Mary’s (in Winona, Minn.) have expressed interest, but Division I programs are making contact after watching her this summer.
Yergler – who has played on summer travel teams for seven years – is one of the top pitchers on her Premier Fast Pitch team. Eastern Illinois University and Illinois-Chicago are among the colleges that have recently had favorable reactions after watching her play.
Though many of her summer teammates have already committed, Yergler is in no hurry.
“I’m taking it pretty slowly,” she said.
Wherever she winds up, Yergler plans to major in biology with an eye to eventually becoming a physical therapist.
Her commitment to softball also happened gradually.
“I wasn’t very serious my first two years (of travel ball),” she said. “Then I got into it.”
Yergler is establishing a name for herself beyond the state, too. In May, she was one of five honorable mention choices by Extra Innings Softball for National Player of the Week accolades.
Shore, meanwhile, had signed a letter of intent with Southeast Missouri State, in Cape Girardeau, Mo., prior to her senior season.
Though she ranks second at M-S in career strikeouts (283) and third in career pitching wins (25) – both marks achieved in three seasons – she expects to play a corner infield position at SEMO.
“It’s time for someone else to pitch,” Shore said.
Gaining a prominent position in the M-S record book wasn’t her primary objective throughout her prep career.
“My main goal was to be able to play four more years,” Shore said.
She is in her third summer with the Premier Fast Pitch team and eighth year overall of playing travel ball.
Even during the COVID-shutdown time, Shore wasn’t inactive.
“I found ways to get swings in,” she said. “I put work in every day.”
Shore owns the career record for the school’s highest batting average. Her all-time mark is .488 (137 for 281).
The Bulldogs not only had the single-season home run leader in the lineup this spring, but also the career leader.
While Yergler was raising the single-season mark higher, Shore was adding to her career mark. It now stands at 28.
Yergler is tied for second in the career category with 2013 M-S graduate Alie Tarrant. Each has 17 home runs.
Yergler’s high school power display is not an anomaly. Counting her travel-ball teams, she is closing in on 70 career home runs.
M-S Softball All-Staters
(By The Illinois Coaches Association)
2021, Aubrie Shore, Sr., infielder, second team
2021, Karley Yergler, Jr., pitcher, second team
2019, Aubrie Shore, So., pitcher, third team
2019, Sam Tamburo, Sr., infielder, third team
2015, Ashley Anglin, Sr, outfielder, third team
2015, Emily Ziegler, Sr., infielder, third team
2014, Alyssa Spoerer, Sr., infielder, third team
2011, Jaime Scott, Sr., infielder, second team
2010, Allison Gwinup, Sr., outfielder, honorable mention
NOTE: The ICA began selecting all-state teams in 1999.
