In a talented-at-the-top Class of 2028 softball standouts, Audrey Seiler is a unique student-athlete.

It’s not just that she has drawn comparisons to sensational Florida Gator freshman Keagan Rothrock, who helped her SEC team go 54-15 record in 2024 and make it to the semi-finals of this year’s Women’s College World Series.***

Audrey actually takes lessons from Keagan, who went 33-8 this year with a 1.13 WIP and had 198 strikeouts in 255 innings to be named the SEC Freshman of the Year, and her well-respected mother and pitching trainer, Laura Rothrock.

However, it’s not like she just heads five minutes down the street to work with the award-winning pitcher and her mother…  to train with the mother/daughter combo, it can be as much as a six-hour roundtrip drive.

As Audrey’s travel ball head coach Dana Mull said last Friday when the 2028 standout was named the No. 1 player in the 2028 Line Drive Hot 100:

“I can’t help but to compare Audrey to Rothrock,” Mull begins, “because Audrey has grown up learning from Keagan and her Mom. I’d say there is a lot of similarities obviously in their pitching style and mentality and Audrey has become Keagan’s biggest fan now that she is pitching at Florida.”

The younger hurler has put up comparably impressive stats like Rothrock did when she was the same age.

As an incoming eighth grader last Summer, Audrey had 193 strikeouts in 103.2 innings pitched for a 0.73 ERA while holding opposing hitters to just a .130 batting average. The Hoosier State standout had a comparably strong Fall as she averaged more than two K’s per inning (78 strikeouts in 37 innings with a 0.56 ERA, a 0.86 WHIP and a batting average against of .136.

Next year she’ll play at the varsity level as a freshman for Tecumseh (Lynnville, Ind.) High Head Coach Gordon Wood, who was Audrey’s middle school coach which she made… in the 5^th grade. Last year at that level, the pitcher tossed 22 innings with 57 strikeouts and allowed just one hit and zero earned runs.

But it’s not just on the softball field where Audrey shines.

She takes Academic Honors and Advanced Classes with a 4.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) and this despite a schedule that has included the aforementioned weekly lengthy trips to take pitching lessons with the Rothrocks as well as hitting lessons with Cody Fowler of Powerhouse Baseball & Softball Training in Franklin, Ind. – about 185 miles away.

As to the academic success, Audrey’s father, Kody, touches on how important the classroom is compared to the athletic accomplishments..

“We are most proud of this because of her grueling schedule and commitment to her sport and her pitching craft,” he says.

That’s significant in that Audrey is already recognized as one of the top pitchers in softball at any age.

Along with being recommended to be the No. 1 in the 2028 Line Drive HOT 100, Audrey had more than a dozen club coaches surveyed by Line Drive point to her as being a difference maker because of her dominating pitching accomplishments and abilities.

These range from being chosen to represent Region 6 in the USA All American Games last year to being selected to try out for the USA High Performance Program.

Another thing that drew raves from those who’ve watched her is her attitude between the chalk lines on the softball field.

“Audrey is one of the most humble and respectful kids you will ever meet,” Kody Seiler continues. “She really looks up to Laura and Keagan and they are great mentors and role models for her.”

The softball success, however, comes with a cost and it’s not just long road trips to sharpen Audrey’s skills.

“She does make a lot of hard decisions and misses out on a lot of activities with friends due to her schedules,” her father explains, “but Audrey understands the sacrifices and knows that if she keeps doing her part, it will pay off someday.”

That success will come in the future and already has in her young career, which includes winning a PGF Super Select event where she showed her toughness by pitching with a broken back.

Her father explains that, two years ago, Audrey “had an issue with her back, but it took some time before doctors finally diagnosed her with a PARS fracture in the L5 vertebrae.”

“She had thrown like that for about two months. Audrey helped her team win a PGF Super Select event with a broken back, I guess you can say. She went through the protocol and rehab and came back even better physically and mentally in late Fall of 2022.”

The pitcher’s father adds that his daughter’s success has been mental as much as physical..

“Audrey is very smart,” her dad adds. “She studies the game and hitters’ tendencies. Audrey wants to go to school for Kinesiology and then become a coach.”

So what does the athlete herself think about all of the success she’s had already, the expectations and how she’s regarded by many top coaches as the cream of the 2028 crop.

“I have wanted to be the No. 1 player in the Class of 2028 for as long as I can remember,” she explains.

“Now that I have achieved this goal, I have started to realize that all of the hard work I have put into the sport over the years is starting to pay off.”

“I want to thank my pitching coach, Laura Rothrock, for helping me develop into the pitcher I am today. I want to thank my hitting coach, Cody Fowler, for helping me improve my swing and build confidence at the plate.”

“I want to thank my (club) head coach, Coach Dana for helping me believe in myself in tough situations on the mound. I want to thank Amber Kivett with Kivett Kinetic Solutions for helping me get through my back injury so I could perform to my potential.”

“If not for all of these people in my life, I would not have been able to achieve this goal.”

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball

*** Editor’s note: Rothrock, who was my No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2023, gave up a game-winning home run on Tuesday to my Class of 2020 No. 1, Jayda Coleman of Oklahoma, which means the Sooners make it to the WCWS for the fourth straight year, having won the last three titles. – Brentt 

*****

Q&A With the No. 1-Ranked Player in the 2028 Line Drive HOT 100

Name: AUDREY SEILER
Hometown/ST: Elberfield, Ind.
Grad Year: 2028
Position(s): P
Club Team: Frost Falcons 09 – Mull
High School (City/ST): Tecumseh (Lynnville, Ind.)
GPA: 4.0

How did you first get into softball? 
I played t-ball as my sister started to play softball. I loved watching her, so I knew that I would play as I got older.

What do you love about softball to work as hard as you do to excel and improve your game?
I love the outcome of the process because it proves how hard I have worked.

Understand you’ve worked out with Keagan Rothrock and her mother, Laura, to sharpen your softball skills… how did that relationship first begin?
When I was eight, I took my first lesson with Laura. Laura made movements in pitching make sense when they hadn’t made sense to me before. After the first lesson, I knew that was the place I wanted to stay and Keagan has been the best role model as I have grown up around the Rothrocks.

Your dad said you travel 2 ½ to 3 hours one way to work out with the Rothrocks and your hitting coach… what drives you to be so dedicated to improving your game?
I know that the more dedicated to softball I am, the better the results I get back will be.

Talk about your back injury… what that was like to go through, how you played through the pain and still managed to win a PGF Super Select Championship!!! That’s amazing… share anything you want to say about the experience.
Pitching with a fractured L5 was a painful experience. At the time we didn’t know I had fractured my L5 because doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. It was insanely painful, but when I would step on the mound I would try my best to block out the pain. What got me through the games to keep playing was knowing my teammates had my back behind me on the field.

Being from Indiana, has it been difficult to get the attention and respect you deserve not being in a big state like California, Florida, Georgia or Texas?
No, I think some of the best preforming players in the nation from all age groups are coming out of the Midwest.

Evaluate your pitching skills… what do you think you do best as far as your physical abilities?
My best ability has to be my ability to spot my rise ball on different levels and in different locations.

What is your “out” pitch?
My rise ball.

When did you realize you had a special talent in the sport and could go far?
I realized I had a special talent when I started pitching because I threw with good velocity and movement.

Scenario: your team is up by one run, but bases loaded, full count and 2 outs. What is your mental process in approaching this big pitch?
I tell myself that I am better than the batter and that my team has my back on the next play.

Who would you compare yourself to as far as pitchers past and present at the collegiate level?
I have been told I am a lot like Keagan Rothrock. I believe this because we have similar demeanor and similar pitching styles.

What do you do to prepare for a big game? Listen to a certain song or artist? Get yourself pumped up? Or do you try to stay calm and mellow?
I try to stay loose and relaxed. Once I take the field, I start to get pumped.

What’s been your most proud softball accomplishment or achievement?
My most proud accomplishment has been pitching the only game that the Midwest Region has won in the 12U USA All American games. In that game I set the new record for most K’s in one game with 17.

What aspects of your game are you looking to improve over the next year?
I want to improve my hitting approach and develop a lateral pitch.

What is something about yourself that is interesting or unusual, but most people don’t know?
I have pet chickens and ducks.

What’s the biggest trial, challenge or obstacle you’ve had to overcome in softball? In life in general?
My mindset after coming back from my back injury. When I came back from the injury, I didn’t have all the confidence that I did before, and it showed. I played scared that it would happen again. I had to believe that I could play like I had before injury to get to where I am.

At this stage, are you looking at the college world and programs you might be interested in? Have you been to campuses or camps to get to know programs better?
My main college I want to go to is University of Florida, so I have been to the campus and camps many times.

Academics, you have a 4.0 GPA, that’s fantastic… do you have an area you’re interested in studying or pursuing past high school?
I want to go into the kinesiology field to study movement of the human body. I want to use this in coaching or being an instructor, that I can help young kids just like me.

What’s an issue in life or the world that you have a particular interest in?
The difference in opportunities in men’s and women’s sports.

Back to softball… if there’s one thing you could change or do to improve the game, what would it be?
I would want everybody to get the same opportunities to be seen to showcase their abilities.

Proudest moment of your softball career so far?
Throwing my first perfect game.

I hear you like collecting baseball cards… do you have a favorite card? How did you get into collecting?
My favorite card has to be my Aaron Judge Topps Chrome rookie card. It’s an error card, so it’s pretty cool. I got into collecting cards when my mom gave me a book of her cards from when she was younger.