Malden SB star taking game to East Mississippi

There are nine other extremely talented high school softball players vying to be named as the top player among the Semoball-area schools next month, but Malden senior Rachel Rommel has as good of an opportunity to rise to the top as any other the rest based on her exemplary senior season.

“She is the hardest worker on our team,” first-year Green Wave coach Kyle Jones said this spring. “And personally, I think that she is the best player in the District. I mean no disrespect to anyone else in the District, but she is the best player in the District.”

Rommel, who was named to the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 Team recently, will take her talents to East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss.

“I went on a visit,” Rommel said, “and it just felt like home. It was everything that I had imagined.”

The Lions have a young head coach (Mackenzie Byrd), who just took over the program six months ago, and some positive momentum, to which Rommel can contribute.

This past spring, East Mississippi won 11 games, but putting that number in context, it was the most successful spring the program had achieved in five years, as well as garnering its most conference victories (eight) since 2018.

“It is not a very big college,” Rommel said, “and I didn’t want to start off big. It was just the perfect size.”

Rommel was nothing short of spectacular in leading the Green Wave to their first District championship since 2019.

She not only controlled the game defensively from her catching position, but she was also the top producer offensively for Malden, which won 17 games, which was the most since that special 2019 season.

“College softball is so competitive,” Rommel said. “I love the competitiveness of the game. At catcher, you’re just so involved in all of the plays.

“You have a bam, bam, bam play every time.”

East Mississippi graduated its catcher from this past season, so Rommel will be competing for playing time right away and Jones allowed her to prepare herself for the next level by giving her a lot of freedom on the diamond.

“I don’t call the pitches,” Jones said. “I let Rachel do that. I have all of the trust in the world with Rachel. I let her call the pitches. She works with the pitchers.

“She doesn’t let anything get past her and she has a good arm. Nobody likes to test her, really.”

Rommel isn’t positive about her career future, but has “thought about elementary education, and gradually becoming a softball coach.”

Rommel also earned All-Bootheel Conference honors this past season.

“She is everything,” Jones said of Rommel. “She is our leader. I’m privileged to coach her. She is a great kid and a great leader.”