How Waiting Her Turn Led to Abby Duchscherer's Strong Start to Sophomore Season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — As part of Alabama's undefeated start to the season through the first three weeks, a sophomore is leading the team in hits, home runs and RBIs, and it's not even particularly close.
Infielder Abby Duchscherer has 21 hits (.420 batting average), four home runs and 20 RBIs to top the team statistics. She's one of three players alongside fellow sophomore Kenleigh Cahalan and Kali Heivilin to have started all 16 games so far.
In just 16 games, the first basemen from North Dakota has more than doubled her hit total from all of her freshman campaign. Last season, she hit .257 with no home runs and two RBIs in limited plate appearances over 32 games. A lot of times, players can experience a "sophomore slump" but Duchscherer is soaring.
"Her body’s changed, her mentality’s so much better, and she’s got a lot of swag right now in the box," Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy said. "And we need that. Because as a three-hole hitter for Alabama, you’ve got to have that."
Duchscherer stepped into third hole in the lineup in the third game of the season and has not relinquished the spot. Most of her starts this season have been at first base with a few as the designated hitter.
It all started with countless hours in the gym over the offseason, working to get her body stronger and more ready for the college game.
"I just wanted to put in a lot of work because being in a different position last year, I had a lot of good senior leadership that pushed me for when my time was ready, and it felt like this was the year to do it," Duchscherer said. "I had a lot of motivation this year for a role I was ready to fill in."
Duchscherer is one of the most decorated high school athletes to come out of the state of North Dakota. Murphy told people throughout her recruitment that she was the best female athlete ever from the state. At 6-feet tall, Duchscherer started every game on her varsity basketball team from seventh grade on, scoring 2,000 career points and also started on varsity volleyball all throughout high school.
Because of the cold weather conditions in North Dakota, she played softball in the summers with a travel ball team, which is where she first got the attention of Murphy. He first watched her play as an eighth grader, and he saw her hit a home run in that game, which would become a trend.
"I swear every time I went to see her, she’d hit a home run, every single time," Murphy said. "And I watched her for five summers.”
Before recruiting rules changed, Duchscherer took a visit to Alabama during eighth grade and was instantly hooked. She visited Washington the next week, and it didn't compare. She also had full-ride offers to play basketball at Big Ten schools, but playing softball for the Crimson Tide was always where she knew she wanted to end up.
"As soon as I stepped foot on campus, I knew this was the place I wanted to be," Duchscherer said about her Alabama visit. "It just felt like home... So my journey throughout college when the rule changed, I knew that I want to have this feeling forever— not have selfish people. Murph has done an incredible job building a program of girls who encourage other girls, and I think that’s a really hard thing… I knew I wanted to be with people who were going to make me better, push me."
But success in high school didn't translate to immediate playing time at Alabama. Duchscherer mainly was used as a pinch hitter in 2023 with just five starts. She said the biggest thing she learned her freshman season was how to accept failure.
"I think that’s a hard thing coming from high school to college is you’re the best in high school when anything you do, you succeed," Duchscherer said. "But when you come to college, it’s a different level. I just had to learn how to fight through the adversity and not being successful 100 percent of the time. Through all the failure, I learned a silver-lining lesson. So I didn’t settle and be content with failing. I learned from it, and wanted to get better every day.”
Duchscherer came out of the gates hot this season, with two hits and two RBIs in the season opener over Villanova. She ended the weekend at the Buzz Classic with a .471 batting average and her first career home run. She picked up where she left off the next weekend at the Bama Bash with three hits in the first game.
And last weekend at the Green & Gold Classic at UAB, Duchscherer had six hits over the final two games, including two of her four home runs on the season. Coming off their best offensive weekend, she and the rest of the No. 11 Alabama team are preparing for their biggest tests yet with Northern Iowa, South Alabama and No. 21 Arizona coming into Rhoads Stadium this weekend for the Crimson Classic.
"I'm excited to see more pitching, different competition, but I think we're ready," Duchscherer said. "We've done this since August I feel like. We're ready. We prepare every day for leading up to these moments."
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