Newberry’s Hollie Pabst signs with Keiser University to play softball

BY CLIFF TUMETEL

NEWBERRY, Fla. – It was an exciting Friday at Newberry High School, where Panthers softball player Hollie Pabst signed her National Letter of Intent to continue her softball playing career at Keiser University. 

There is no doubt that she’s excited about taking her talents to the next level while at the same time continuing to further her education. What stood out to her about the Keiser softball program was the environment and the camaraderie. 

“The family. Just, like–very much, you can rely on your teammates to help you out or even your coaches to help you out, so it is very family-oriented,” said Pabst. 

It’s been a long journey for her at Newberry; while Pabst has one more softball season left with the Panthers, she’s learned a lot in her time there, including making sure she works hard every day while remaining loyal to the Blue and Yellow. 

“I can’t expect to get playing time immediately. I have to work for everything, and I can’t just give up on a team because they’re not doing well at the moment, when they can achieve greatness later on,” Pabst said. 

And that greatness started to shine last season when the Panthers finished with a 15-9 record and went on to the regional semifinals, a huge improvement compared to the season before that, when they finished 5-14.

Assistant Coach Michele Roundtree has seen Pabst’s work up close and has nothing but praises when asked about her growth.

“Hollie is a very disciplined worker. When she is trying to fix something in her swing or get a little bit better, she goes right back to the fundamentals and just the basics and makes sure that she’s doing those right,” Roundtree said. 

Coach Roundtree says because of her commitment and hard work, Pabst has become a well-rounded, fundamentally good player, and she does it the right way. 

The Panthers open the 2024 season on Feb. 21 versus Interlachen.