RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
It’s a terrific trifecta for the juggernaut that is Lake Creek High softball out of Montgomery, Texas.
First, the Lions were the No. 1 team in the final Extra Elite 80 National High School Rankings that were released on June 25, 2023, after the Lone Star State team won its second straight Class 5A title to finish with a 44-1 record this Spring.
Next came the news yesterday that phenomenal senior pitcher Ava Brown, who has signed with the Univ. of Florida, was selected as the Extra Inning Softball 2023 National High School Player of the Year thanks to a 27-0 mark on the year with a 0.53 ERA and 298 K’s in 172 innings including 15 strikeouts with just one hit and one walk allowed in the state championships game.
And today, the final plaudits for the 2023 high school season are for the 2023 National High School Coach of the Year award that goes to Michelle Rochinski.
Yes, the team was loaded with talent–from the pitcher’s circle to the plate and across the infield and outfield–but this title-winning year was just the capper on a great career by Coach Rochinski, who announced she’d be stepping down as Head Coach of the Lions team less than two days after the title win, although she will remain on the Texas school’s campus.
“I will still be at Lake Creek High School as the Assistant Athletic Coordinator,” she told Extra Inning Softball earlier today.”
“The decision to step down as the head coach of the softball team was made before the start of the play-offs,” she added. “I was going to be stepping down win or lose and we decided to wait to release this news until after we were done with our play-off run, so that it would not pull attention away from the girls and what they were doing.”
There’s a very good reason that Rochinski will not be in the dugout anymore: she’ll be watching her two children playing college sports from the stands in Cade, who plays football at Howard Payne University after graduating from Lake Creek High in 2022, and her daughter, Kalee, who will be going to the Univ. of Texas-San Antonio, to play softball.
As a senior in 2023, the coach’s daughter was a key part of the Lions’ two titles and an amazing 85-1 record the last two years.
Now, Mom will get to watch Kalee play at the next level and she couldn’t be happier about her decision to turn in the coach’s playbook.
“I will still be around to support our coaches and athletes 100 percent,” she explains, “but this decision also allows me the flexibility to be able to follow my kids and follow their athletic careers at the college level.”
Coach Rochinski goes out in record-setting fashion, literally.
Over the last two season, the squad set a Texas high school state record with an 82-game win streak and, with the back-to-back title trophies, becoming just the 12th team in the 30-year history of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) in Texas to do so .
The list of accomplishments for Rochinski is as long as a Texas summer sunset (see the complete list at the bottom of this article) and highlighting the coach’s resume is the two national titles (in 2022 and 2023); a 138-4 record over the last four years; an overall career record of 541-171 (76% win percentage), nine district championships and an appearance in the playoffs every year of her coaching career, a total of 23.
Coach Rochinski started as a coach at Montgomery (Texas) High and then moved to Lake Creek High in 2018, finishing her career with these last two special seasons.
What made this concluding run so special for the coach and her senior class?
“These past two years,these girls were committed and driven to excel in everything they do, whether it is in the classroom, on the field, or in the weight room,”Rochinski believes.
As is usually the case, it wasn’t just talent between the lines that fueled the record-setting run over these last two years.
“I love the way that this team bonded this year,” the couch continues, “even with having so many upperclassmen. They took it upon themselves to welcome the underclassmen in everything that they did. I really enjoyed watching them grow day in and out, not only as softball players, but as young ladies.”
The only blemish for the Lions team over the last two years was a loss in the best two-of-three playoffs this year against a strong Georgetown team (note that Ava Brown didn’t pitch in that game).
Was the coach nervous with the series tied 1-1 knowing the loser was forced to go home?
“Georgetown was a very talented team,” she recalls, “and we knew we were going to have to play some tough ball games. Game 2 of the series we just were not playing Lake Creek softball the way we had been playing all year long. We had to regroup for Game 3 and make every play count. We were able to string together a few timely hits and had the ball bounce our way.”
That they did… all the way through pair of state tourney victories by scores of 9-0 in the semi’s and 8-0 in the championship victory.
And, subsequently, the spoils of victory for the aforementioned Big 3 awards:
- a No. 1 national ranking to close the 2023 campaign,
- the National Player of the Year and,
- the National Coach of the Year, who closes her nearly quarter century Hall of Fame-caliber career going out in a way few have done before.
Softball, is like anything in life: one bad bounce, one missed assignment, one errant throw and it can be all taken away or lost in an instant. What, we asked Coach Rochinski defined this team that it only lost once—once!—in two years?
“As a coach, I believe that you have to have the right mindset,” she reveals. “I feel for Lake Creek High we had that championship mindset. It is all about giving all you have and fighting to make yourself better.”
“We talked about this not only for yourself, but for your team,” the now-retired coach continues. “I am a huge advocate of team and program. I feel that if these kids buy into our coaching staff and philosophy, when they walk in on that first day, things tend to go pretty smoothly throughout their high school career.”
Like any good coach who values those around her helping towards a unified goal, Coach Rochinski shared the wealth.
“I have to give my coaching staff a ton of credit,” she added. “I would not be where I am today without the help of some great assistants throughout my career.”
Still, with such an amazingly successful run, it’d be very natural for a competitor like the coach to have reconsidered the decision to step away… not just because of the wins on the field, but because of the chance to make it three state titles in a row.
Right?
That thought, as hopeful as it may be to fans of Lake Creek High softball, is quickly put to rest.
“I have not had any second thoughts about my decision,” Coach Rochinski says distincly. “I would have never imagined having the opportunity to go out back-to-back and national champions but having done so just solidified my decision that now was the time.”
“I will still be at Lake Creek and still be around to support our coaches and athletes 100 percent,” she concludes, and then adds the key statment that shows she’s not just a great coach, but a great parent too.
“This decision also allows me the flexibility to be able to follow my kids and their athletic careers at the college level, too.”
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
*****
A Champion’s Resume: The Coaching Success of Michelle Rochinski
2023 Awards and Stats
- 2023 Texas 5A State Champs (44-1), back-to-back State champs (12th team in 30-year history of UIL)
- 2023 #1 ranking nationally (back-to-back National Champions)
- 2023 District 21-5A Coach of the Year
- 2023 District 21-5A Champions
- Awarded NFHS Coaches Association 2021-2022 State Coach of The Year
- Awarded NFHS Coaches Association 2021-2022 Sectional Coach of The Year – Southwest Section
- 82 game win streak, Texas HS State Record (2022-2023 seasons), 85-1 overall last two years
- 138-4 record over last four years
Overall Awards and Stats
- 23 playoff appearances (every year of career)
- 9 District Championships
- 82 Game Win Streak (TX HS State Record: 2022-2023 seasons)
- 3 State appearances
- 2012 State Finalist Montgomery High School
- 2022 Texas 5A State Champion Lake Creek High School (41-0)
- 2023 Texas 5A State Champion Lake Creek High School (44-1)
- Two National Championships at Lake Creek (2023, 2022)
- 2022 Team of the Year Lake Creek High School
- Coaching record- 541/171, 76% Career Win Percentage
- TGCA All Star Coach-2009 & 2022
- 7x District Coach of the Year
- 5x County Coach of the Year
- 2022 5A-6A- TGCA Softball Coach of the Year
- 2022 TSWA Class 5A Coach of the Year
- 2022 H-Town Sports High School Coach of the Year
- 2022 Vype Houston Coach of the Year
- 2022-NFCA Coaching Staff of the Year
COPYRIGHT © 2023 Extra Inning Softball TM
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