Less than a year after pitching Lafayette to a Class 5 state championship, Wildwood's Abby Carr is doing it all for the Mizzou Tigers — and the rest of the country is starting to notice.

Carr, a freshman right-handed pitcher and designated player, was named to the 2026 NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Top 25 list on April 23. She leads the Tigers in four major categories: home runs, RBIs, ERA, and saves, according to Mizzou Athletics.

"She had no weaknesses in the circle this year," Eureka High coach Mark Mosley said of Carr during her senior season at Lafayette, in a Gatorade press release.

From Lancer to Tiger

Carr's senior year at Lafayette was historic. She went 23-0 with a 0.24 ERA, striking out 304 batters in 144.2 innings while leading the Lancers to a 25-6-1 record and the state title. At the plate, she hit .476 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs, earning the 2024-2025 Gatorade Missouri Softball Player of the Year award, first-team All-State honors, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro Player of the Year.

She's the fourth Lafayette athlete in three years to earn a state Gatorade Player of the Year award, joining cross country runners Grace Tyson and Natalie Barnard and volleyball player Maya Witherspoon.

Making an Immediate Impact in the SEC

At Mizzou, Carr has been a two-way force from day one. Through April 23, the date of the NFCA announcement, she's batting .306 with a .619 slugging percentage, 11 home runs, and 40 RBIs. In the circle, she's posted a 5-4 record with 60 strikeouts in 63.2 innings, a 2.42 ERA, four saves, and a .224 opponent batting average.

Her breakout moment came in a March series against No. 4 Alabama. On March 21, she earned her first career save, pitching 2.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts in a 5-2 Mizzou win. The next day, she smashed two home runs — her first career multi-homer game — driving in all three Tiger runs in a 4-3 loss. That performance earned her Softball America Freshman Star of the Week honors.

Hometown Tiger

Mizzou Athletics spotlighted Carr in its "Hometown Tiger" series in mid-April, a feature that also included her sister Kathryn, a current Lafayette freshman, and Lafayette Principal Dr. Karen Calcaterra. The Rockwood School District shared the feature on social media, celebrating Carr's journey from the halls of Lafayette to the SEC.

Mizzou (25-24, 7-11 SEC) heads into its final two conference series of the regular season with Carr as one of its most versatile weapons — a Wildwood kid who's carried her state championship form into the SEC.