Trib HSSN softball player of the week – Emma Herb
School – Shenango
Class – Junior
Position – Catcher
#Earned – The first half of the 2026 WPIAL softball season ended with a bang Thursday.
After four-plus years of beating every WPIAL opponent it went up against, the Neshannock record winning streak of 57 in a row ended by the same Shenango program that beat the Lancers in a section game late in the 2021 regular season.
That was the last section loss for the Lancers prior to Thursday.
Playing a big part in the monumental victory and in the success of the Wildcats this season is junior catcher Emma Herb.
In the game against the Lancers, Herb was 2 for 3 with a homer and two RBIs.
Her home run helped start the comeback as Shenango trailed 5-2 before coming back to beat Neshannock, 6-5.
Her efforts capped off a big week in which the Wildcats won four section games. Herb had eight hits in nine at-bats.
She was 2 for 2 with four walks in a doubleheader sweep of Aliquippa, and she was 4 for 4 at the plate with a pair of triples in a victory over Freedom.
The big week lifted Shenango into a three-way tie for first place in Section 1-2A. The Wildcats are 5-1 in the section while both Neshannock and Laurel are 4-1.
Shenango is 9-1 this season with its only loss coming against Laurel.
For the season, Herb is 20 for 33 for a .606 batting average with seven extra-base hits (3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs), 19 runs scored and 11 runs batted in.
She has a .650 on base percentage, 1.000 slugging percentage and a 1.650 OPS.
Hitting at the high school level has not been a problem for Herb. She batted .441 as a freshman with a home run and nine RBIs, and hit .440 with a homer and 22 runs batted in as a sophomore.
When she started playing softball, she was a pitcher and a third baseman, but an arm injury ended her work in the circle.
She was the starting shortstop as a freshman, but moved to catcher last year.
Herb played volleyball up until this past season and played basketball when she was younger.
She hopes to continue her softball career in college and hopes to study ultrasound in school.
Herb loves to hunt rabbits and deer and also runs her own coffee business.
Mean Mare Coffee is made-to-order, straight for pick up business selling specialty lattes, fruit refreshers and “dirty” sodas.
She has one sibling. Her brother Zach Herb is a junior playing baseball at Seton Hill.
2026 Trib HSSN Softball Players of the Week
Week 1 – Addyson Nigut, Elizabeth Forward