INDIANAPOLIS — The Roncalli High School softball team has a not-so-secret weapon, a pitcher who is among the best in the country.
Roncalli has been known as a football school for many years. They have 10 state titles, but all of a sudden, the girls softball team is making some serious noise.
Just stand back and watch Keagan Rothrock work. She can throw a fastball at over 70 miles per hour. She’s the nations’ top-ranked junior.
Catcher Ann Marie Meek thinks Rothrock may intimidate some opponents in the batter’s box.
“I think so,” Meek said. “I think they get in the box and they’re nervous, ‘cause that first pitch goes by and you can see them kind of like look back with their eyes wide open, like, 'Ooh, that was fast.’”
Rothrock is dedicated to her sport. On a rainy afternoon when softball practice was canceled, she headed to the football field turf to work on her craft.
“She’s a relentless worker,” said head coach David Lauck. “There isn’t a night that goes by that she’s isn’t lifting weights, training, conditioning, whatever, always trying to stay ahead of her competitors."
The effort started a young age.
“I started pitching when I was about four, in our backyard, and I broke everything,” Rothrock said with a laugh.
She stayed with it and it paid off. Rothrock has over 500 strikeouts over two seasons. She led the Royals to a state title last year. They’ll try to repeat this year.
“I personally haven’t felt the pressure, and I don’t think our team has felt the pressure. We’ve just gone out there, we’ve played our game and we’ve trusted to go out there and do what we do best and we haven’t put any pressure on ourselves. We just go out there, we play and we have fun,” said Rothrock.
Rothrock has a 4.1 grade point average. She plans to attend the University of Florida and said she wants to be a doctor. That will come after she dominates the college softball scene.
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