WELLINGTON — Melissa Rennie, the area’s leading slugger and one of its top catchers, will continue her softball career at Ohio State.

Rennie, whose power hitting helped propel the Dukes to two straight regional tournaments and the 2008 state championship game, signed a national letter of intent Thursday night at a catered dinner in the Wellington High cafeteria. A full house of coaches, former coaches, friends, family and others cheered when she signed.

Given the level of competition at a Big Ten university, Rennie’s is one of the most prestigious scholarships ever awarded a Lorain County softball player. Keystone’s Kara Dill is currently a freshman at the University of Kentucky on a softball scholarship. Her dad, Clay Dill, one of Rennie’s former travel ball coaches, was among the guests.

“I’d like to thank you all for attending tonight to share this special time with me and my family,” Rennie said before the dinner featuring barbecued ribs and grilled chicken breast was served.

Purchase a print.

Later she said: “This has always been my goal in life, at least athletically and academically, to go to Ohio State. I think I’m more excited right now completing everything with my signature. It’s a great feeling.”

Among the guests was Tom Roth, Rennie’s coach the last three seasons. He retired as a coach at the end of last season after 23 years.

“She’s surprisingly strong,” Roth said. “She has strength and she can hit the ball. I think she’ll be fine. If nothing else, she can play an outfield position because she’s so fast. (The Buckeyes) may find that they’ll have to find a place for her, because her batting average is over .400. And it’s not just banjo base hits. She hits with power.”

True enough. Rennie led the area in home runs last season with nine. She batted .494, hit seven doubles and three triples, and put up 34 RBIs. She also walked a dozen times.

In addition, she made the OHSAA record book last spring for home runs in consecutive games — four — against Midview, Vermilion, Keystone and Brookside, and most home runs in a game, two each in games against Midview and Oberlin, on April 9 and 28, respectively.

“Hopefully, she goes down (to Columbus), stays healthy and things work out for her,” Roth said. “You hope it all works out the way she hopes it will. She’s a good kid and always has been, in the classroom and everywhere else.”

“Melissa has a lot of potential to do great things as she has the past couple years,” said Michele Jordan, a former Wellington softball star recently named to succeed Roth. “We’ve had some open gyms and she’s been there.

”I can’t coach yet (by OHSAA rule), but I’m there and I’m watching and she’s working 110 percent the whole time. She helps the other girls, so not only does she have the potential to do great things, she’s going to help the other players do great things.”

As a freshman, Rennie became the first non-Elyria player to hit a fence-clearing home run on the Pioneers home diamond at old West High School. She has earned All-Lorain County and Patriot Athletic Conference honors for three straight years, has won numerous academic honors and was a Division III All-Ohio choice last season.

She also stars on the Dukes volleyball team and took home several awards following the team’s annual awards banquet earlier in the week.

“This is a very special day, because we know she’s worked very hard for it,” said her mom, Michelle Rennie. “She’s given up a lot of extracurricular activities to become better at softball, to be the best that she can.”

Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Follow The Chronicle on Twitter at Twitter.com/YourChronicle and become a fan on Facebook to get updates on stories like this and more!

---

Print this story
Report an innappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered, click here.
If you are registered, click here to log in.
Need help? Email Us.