How Erin Hershman, 2024 Mars Hall of Fame inductee, left indelible mark on Planets softball
Erin Hershman felt at home at the softball diamond.
“My dad (Bill Hershman) played minor league baseball,“ she said. ”My uncles and brother played, too. I started playing little league baseball myself and moved to softball when I was 11.
“I grew up with baseball and softball and have always had a comfort level with the sport.”
That familiarity spawned a standout career with the Mars varsity softball team. By the time Hershman graduated in 2014, she was the Planets’ career leader in hits, home runs, RBIs and batting average.
She will be inducted into the Mars Athletic Hall of Fame Sept. 21 and plans to return for her induction.
“I had no idea I had those records,” said Hershman, who lives in Atlanta. “I just wanted to play hard and have fun with my friends.”
“I’ve noticed some of the people I went to high school with have already been inducted and thought that was nice,” she said. “I’m so honored and very excited to get back.”
Hershman also proved valuable to the Planets with her versatility in the field, starting at a different position each of her four years on the team — catcher as a freshman, second baseman as a sophomore, shortstop as a junior and center fielder her senior season.
“Our starting catcher got hurt my freshman year, and my coach (Michele Goodworth) told me I had to step up,” Hershman said. “I wanted to be active, help the team any way I could and loved playing different positions.”
Hershman batted .407 as a sophomore and .414 as a junior. During her senior year, her batting average vaulted over .500 and included nine home runs, helping the Planets reach the WPIAL Class 3A championship game. By that point, she knew her softball career would extend to the University of Pittsburgh.
“My goal by my sophomore year at Mars was to play in college, and I wanted to play at the highest level possible. Holly Aprile (then Pitt’s head coach) noticed me when I was playing travel ball and urged me to walk on with the Panthers.”
As a sophomore at Pitt in 2016, Hershman batted .366 with 12 doubles, seven home runs and 31 RBIs, earning First Team All-ACC honors as the Panthers reach the conference title game. That effort earned her a scholarship during her last two years.
“After getting all-conference, I put more pressure on myself,” she said. “I wanted to be as good or better my last two years, and people were expecting a lot from me.”
Hershman remained a vital cog in Pitt’s fortunes, both at the plate and in the outfield. She helped Pitt get back to the ACC championship game as a senior in 2018.
“To be part of the group that brought Pitt softball to another level, it felt awesome,” she said. “I made lifelong friendships with a lot of my teammates.”
Hershman has lived in Atlanta for six years and is employed by Gwinnett County Public Schools. Softball is taken “extremely seriously” in the South, she said, and remains a major part of her life. She joined a slowpitch league two years ago and plays two three games per week.
