Marion’s first swing set the standard for high school softball stardom

March 8, 2011 at the Northwestern softball field. Seventh-grader Rachel Marion strode to the plate for her first varsity softball at-bat for the Trojans.

What happened next set the table for the next five years.

On the very first pitch she saw, Marion belted a home run inches inside the foul pole and beyond the left-field fence. Just like the softball hurled her way by a York pitcher, a record setting career had been launched.

“I remember hitting the ball,” Marion said earlier this week, with a flash of a smile. “But I don’t remember running the bases. I had so much adrenaline because I had a lot I wanted to prove.”

Northwestern coach Bryan Smith knew very early that Marion would be an impact player.

“I met her when she was in the sixth grade,” he said. “Coach (Rocky) DuBard told me there was a girl in the batting cages that needed to be playing with us.”

After heeding DuBard’s advice Smith took a look and could tell immediately that Marion “had a special talent.”

Marion was entrenched as the starting catcher for the Trojans the following year and has been a mainstay ever since, missing only one game out of 150, due to an illness earlier this year.

As her high school softball tenure nears its end, the talented senior’s career is littered with record breaking numbers.

The Newberry recruit is Northwestern’s career home run leader with 20, surpassing former Trojans standout Kori Wancheck’s 17. Marion‘s two-homer game earlier this season against Gaffney enabled her to tie and surpass that record. She is also the RBI career leader with 143 and hits leader with 200. Both marks topped Wancheck’s 123 and 198 respectively.

On the defensive side, Marion has a career .986 fielding percentage and the opposition is hesitant to attempt to steal a base. Smith said, “people tested her early but not now. She saves us a bunch of runs.”

When asked what it meant to pass Wancheck – a close childhood friend and longtime teammate – in the Trojans’ record books, Marion said, “It is special. It’s nice. We were both able to have had the same opportunities and played in the same amount of games.”

Smith knew his team would be facing a transition season this spring and Marion would be counted on heavily.

“I told Rachel our goal was to still make the playoffs,” he said. “I told her that her job was to help teach our younger kids to be hard workers and respect the game, and she has taken the ball and run with it.”

Marion, who has been playing softball since five years of age, readily embraced the role as team leader and has the Trojans in a favorable position to make the playoffs despite the team’s early season struggles.

“I felt some pressure like I had to do more,” she said. “Then I thought to myself that this is my senior year and I just need to relax. I became more patient and selective (at the plate).”

Northwestern won five of its last seven region games after starting 0-4. The Trojans dropped a crucial game to Gaffney Thursday and their playoff fate was unclear as of that night. But Marion hopes there are more games to play in her final high school softball season.

“It’s nice to know I’m leaving my mark,” she said.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Marion’s first swing set the standard for high school softball stardom."