Delaware’s Tompkins making most of final season
Saturday, May 6, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Delaware Hayes’ Lauren Tompkins connects with a pitch during the host Pacers’ 14-3 win in five innings over Canal Winchester in an OCC-Capital Division game on May 4. Photo: Michael Rich
No, that’s not an oar Lauren Tompkins is using at the plate. But the Delaware Hayes senior will be wielding one soon enough.
For now, Tompkins, a senior at third base on the Delaware Hayes softball team, is utilizing a bat. But it would be easy to get the two confused.
Tompkins, who is signed to row at Eastern Michigan University, is batting .661 with 10 home runs, 43 RBIs, nine doubles and 21 runs to lead the Pacers, who finished the regular season 16-2 overall, winning an OCC-Capital Division title at 13-1.
“I really have nothing to lose at this point,” she said. “(I can) just go up there, encourage other people and do my best.”
Delaware, which went a week between games between a 1-0 win over Dublin Scioto on April 27 and a 14-3 win in five innings over Canal Winchester on May 4 to avenge its only league loss, is seeded sixth in the upcoming Division I district tournament. The Pacers host the winner of 20th-seeded Olentangy and 23rd-seeded Watterson in the second round on May 10.
Tompkins clubbed three homers in three games before the long layoff, including two in an 11-0 win in five innings over Big Walnut on April 25.
She was scrambling to find a new bat after breaking her allotment for the season. So, when her dad, Jim, returned with one from Play it Again Sports in Westerville, she was surprised to find that it was the bat she used in middle school. Figuring it was her final season of softball and she had plenty of bats, she traded it in before the season.
“He came home with this bat that was literally my bat,” Tompkins said. “I paid this store to hold onto my bat for four months while I broke all my other bats. I hit three home runs (last week) and that’s when I got it back.”
She’s played second, shortstop and third base during her career with the Pacers. But she’s proven adept with the bat.
“(Tompkins) can spray it all over the field,” Delaware coach Mark Thomas said. “She can hit for power, but she doesn’t really try (to). Her focus is trying to get it up the middle and if she hits a homer, she hits a homer. If she hits a double, she hits a double. If they want to pitch her outside, she can go outside.”
Delaware Hayes softball player Lauren Tompkins (center) talks with Addison Holt (left) between innings during the Pacers’ game with Canal Winchester on May 4. Photo: Michael Rich
So, how did Tompkins go from softball to rowing?
“I signed up for an NCAA profile and an Eastern Michigan coach (assistant Annie Cantu) reached out to me,” Tompkins said. “I emailed them randomly (and told them) my aunt (Beth Tackett) rowed at Ohio State. They were really into the fact that I had ties to rowing in my family. I went to visit and I really liked it there. I have never been in one of those boats.”
Wait, she’s never rowed before?
“I’ve been in ergs that you can find at any gym, but I’m not supposed to do a lot until I get there so they can teach me the way they want us to do things,” Tompkins said.
Tompkins’ decision to pursue rowing was just as much academic as it was athletic.
“I had a lot of (softball) offers from smaller schools, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a good change – especially for my academics. (I was looking for) a school with exercise science combined with athletic training, so I can maybe get a masters in four years.
“One of the schools I was looking for in softball only had exercise science. So, I could only play for three years there and then I would have had to find another school that I had my other major. (Eastern Michigan) was the school with the best fit.”
Tackett rowed at Ohio State while pursuing degrees in biology and zoology before earning a doctorate in veterinary medicine. She now practices in Charleston, West Virginia.
“Women’s rowing college is a unique sport,” Tackett said. “They have a novice division. Basically because of Title IX, they use women’s rowing as one of the teams to balance out the sports women don’t participate in. It’s a tough sport. But it’s a pretty fantastic opportunity to learn something from scratch.
“I think some of the rowing coaches like to teach you from scratch so that you’re not coming in with bad habits. You have to be synchronized with the other rowers, so you have to move as a unit. It was a whole new thing for me (because) I had only done individual sports before.”
Tackett was a track athlete at Westerville South before graduating in 2001. She was new to the sport when she took up rowing at Ohio State. Her advice proved valuable to Tompkins.
“I did one year of track and field at Ohio State and just didn’t like it,” Tackett said. “I just got burned out. But I didn’t want to get out of athletics completely. So, someone on the weight room staff was like, ‘You should try women’s rowing.’
“They were all about letting athletic women try it out and they would teach us. So, I just did it on a whim and ended up loving it.”
Delaware has run off nine consecutive wins, outscoring opponents 77-8 over that stretch.d
Delaware Hayes pitcher Bronwynn Leighty delivers a pitch during the host Pacers’ 14-3 win in five innings over Canal Winchester in an OCC-Capital Division game on May 4. Photo: Michael Rich
Tompkins is surrounded by freshmen Kasey Beswick (1B), Lizzy Gould (2B) and McKenna Coleman (SS) and sophomores Bronwynn Leighty (P) and Zee Brown (C).
Rylea Gist, the team’s only other senior, is in center flanked by junior Maddie Kiss (RF) and sophomore Grace Singleton (LF).
“We expected to have a lot of bumps in the road this year having a young team,” Thomas said. “But we have some great leadership from the seniors and juniors. We’re playing very well. I still don’t think we’re at our potential yet.”
Leighty has had a stellar season in the circle, going 12-2 in 14 games, including 11 starts, with a 0.82 ERA with 146 strikeouts, allowing 56 hits, 19 walks and four hit batters.
“I swing at her rise ball sometimes,” Tompkins admitted.
Truly high praise from someone that hasn’t struck out yet this season.
“I pride myself on that,” Tompkins said. “I hate striking out. I’ll swing at more first pitches rather than striking out.”