East softball player signs with Butler

Columbus East softball coach Rusty Brummett was watching one of his 13-year-old daughter Kaitlin’s travel team games when he noticed her turn around from her catching position before the game and introduce herself to the umpire.

After the game, Brummett asked Kaitlin what made her think about doing that. She said, “I saw Elyse do that.”

“Elyse” is Elyse Babb, the standout catcher for Brummett’s East High School team. Babb, who committed to Butler two years ago, cemented her decision Friday when she signed a national letter-of-intent to play for the Bulldogs.

“It’s definitely 100 percent in my heart where I want to go,” Babb said. “I’ve never had any second thoughts about going to Butler and playing softball there. It’s awesome knowing that I’m going where I really want to go.”

Babb, a senior, carries a 3.7 GPA and is in the National Honor Society. She is undecided on a major but is thinking about human resources.

“I love the campus,” Elyse Babb said. “It’s a small campus, but a big city. I really appreciate that in a school.”

Babb’s parents, Scott and Heather Babb, on Friday thanked her coaches, including Craig Sims, who coached their older daughter Paige and now coaches Elyse with the Indy Edge travel team. Sims guided Hauser to the Class A state high school title in the spring.

“If Elyse didn’t have Craig, she wouldn’t be sitting here,” Heather Babb said. “When you spend as much time playing softball as Elyse does and Paige did, your softball family, that’s who they become, whether it’s high school or travel ball.”

Brummett talked about Babb being an excellent player, student, citizen and person.

“I never, ever hear her say a bad word about anybody,” Brummett said.

In the spring, Babb batted .458 with four doubles, three triples, 17 RBIs and 18 runs scored to lead the Olympians to a 5-17 season.

“I said we need to make sure that all the kids in our program know how hard she worked because sometimes they think somebody like Elyse, God just reached out and touches them and says ‘You’re going to be a great fastpitch player,'” Brummett said. “I think her mom and her both laughed a little bit because that’s not the case. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication, and Elise has worked her tail off to become very good at what she does.”

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Name: Elyse Babb

School: Columbus East

Year: Senior

Position: Catcher

College choice: Butler

Key stats: Led the Olympians with a .458 batting average, four doubles, three triples, 17 RBIs and 18 runs scored as a junior.

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