Even after a commanding performance against the defending state champion, Keagan Rothrock still found ways to pick herself apart.
That, she figures, is how she got to be so good in the first place.
"Every time I go to lessons, we always find something new to work on," Rothrock said. "There’s always something at the end of the game that could have been better — that was good, but could have been better."
Finding ways to get better than she already is has to be getting tough for Rothrock, a Roncalli sophomore from Whiteland who is billed as the top softball player in the Class of 2023.
Not in Roncalli’s Class of 2023. Not in the state. The entire country.
The toast of the travel softball world since she was a wee lass — the pitcher famously gave a verbal commitment to the University of Florida when she was 12 years old — Rothrock had to wait until just a couple of weeks ago to make her much-anticipated high school debut, and she has not disappointed.
Despite admitting to being "extremely nervous" going into her first game in a Royals uniform, Rothrock pitched a perfect game against Cardinal Ritter, striking out all 15 batters she faced in a 14-0 victory. She fanned 15 more in 6 1/3 innings against a solid Columbus North team, allowing just one infield hit.
Facing her first real varsity challenge against No. 3 Center Grove, the 2019 Class 4A champ, Rothrock appeared unfazed, striking out 15 more and yielding just three hits in a 4-0 win.
Her performance had Trojans coach Alyssa Coleman — who coached 2019 Miss Softball Abby Herbst and hasn’t lost a state tournament game since 2017 — doling out generous praise.
"She’s a beast," Coleman said. "She makes everyone she faces better, so thank you to her. Truly — if I could say one thing to her, I’d say thank you. She’s going to make every girl in this state better, every girl that faces her, you’re going to get better that day.
"She’s poised, she attacks, she’s got the speed, she’s got great movement. She’s something that a lot of kids don’t ever see."
Rothrock followed up her win over Center Grove by pitching yet another perfect game, fanning all 18 Hamilton Southeastern batters who came to the plate in an 11-0 victory on Saturday in Terre Haute. She has struck out 91 without a walk in 35 1/3 innings while allowing just six hits; her lone run allowed came against Beech Grove Tuesday on an inside-the-park home run that Roncalli coach David Lauck blamed on "bad coaching by me."
The lost 2020 season not only delayed the start of Rothrock’s varsity career, but it also denied Roncalli a golden opportunity. Pitching is the name of the game in high school softball, and the Royals (née Rebels) would have had an unmatched combo last spring in Rothrock and Amber Linton, a Franklin native now pitching for Indiana University.
According to Lauck, Linton was a role model for the young Rothrock and perhaps one of the reasons she chose to play for the school in the first place.
"That would have been fun, and it would have been a 1-2 punch as good as any in the state of Indiana," Lauck said, "but most disappointing was the fact that Keagan didn’t get to be a teammate with Amber."
Her current teammates have been just fine. The Class 4A No. 1 Royals are a sparkling 7-0 going into today’s game against Ben Davis, and Rothrock has had plenty of help from the likes of infielder Chloe Parks, a Miami of Ohio recruit, and numerous others.
Lauck points out that Roncalli still has other capable pitchers on the roster, but that Rothrock wants the ball every day — and she’s built to carry the team through a deep postseason run the way Herbst did for Center Grove two years ago.
"Her endurance and her strength are just really off the charts for a 16-year-old kid," he said. "To be able to go seven innings against a quality team like Center Grove just kind of shows you her physical endurance, her physical strength are just really incredible."
With Rothrock proving extremely difficult to hit, Lauck says his focus during practices is building strong communication and synergy among the infielders; teams aren’t going to beat Roncalli by hammering the ball.
At least 30 to 40 minutes of each practice are dedicated to working with the infield group on defending against bunts and slaps.
"In order to beat us, I feel like right now, you’re going to have to put the ball in play seven or eight times and make us throw it around," Lauck said. "So that’s what we practice."
Rothrock, meanwhile, is always practicing something. Even though she has a fastball that has topped out at 72 miles per hour (the rough equivalent of a 100-mph heater in baseball) and an array of pitches — rise, change-up, curve — to go with it, she’s always trying to inch closer to perfection.
"In my mind, there’s never room for error," she said. "I’m really hard on myself, and when I don’t do something right I immediately try to find what’s wrong and try to fix it, just so I can make the next pitch better than the one before."
The main goal for Rothrock is to be ready for the moments when that next pitch will mean more. Dominating in early April isn’t the same as being on point when only the best teams are left standing in late May and early June. She and the Royals want to win a state championship this spring, and they know they’re good enough to do so.
Rothrock still hasn’t faced a real test yet this spring, but she knows a time will come this postseason when she will — and she’s eagerly awaiting that challenge.
"I love positions where something could possibly be on the line," she said, "and I think I pitch better in those type of situations."
