Rovens does it all for MSUB softball

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Friday, April 28, 2017 Rovens does it all for MSUB softball

Completing her career as the most prolific offensive player in school history, Bella Rovens is completing one of the most storied careers in school and GNAC history.

MSUB SPORTS – The sight of endless open road has become a familiar one over the years for Ed Rovens.

Earning his living as a truck driver has meant long, overnight shifts covering ground around his home location of Sparks, Nev. Often times those lengthy work trips went without a co-pilot, but it was always the journey west over the hill to California that he enjoyed most.

“Are they going to like me dad?”

Ed pondered how he’d answer the question that carried out in a soft voice from the passenger’s seat for what felt like the 100th time. His middle daughter had grown up in a city of just under 100,000 people, and was apprehensive about

the idea of taking the field with a much larger sample size than she’d ever seen before. “It’s softball,” he replied. “As long as you can hit, run, and catch, they’ll like you.”

Bella Rovens wasn’t the biggest or strongest kid on the diamond; on the contrary, she was far from it. She was on her way to Oakland for a tryout with Sorcerer Softball, one of the premier youth teams in the country, as she continued to interrupt the monotony of Interstate 80 with cues for reassurance from her father.

“She was the kid that never let you beat her up the stairs, who was first to the car door, and wanted to race no matter what,” said Rovens’ father. “She has always been competitive, and she’s always taken softball very seriously.”

Ed knew that when his daughter made the Sorcerer team amidst a group of more than 300 participants that she had something special within her. More than a decade later when he surprised her with a trip to Nampa, Idaho for one of her final games as a collegiate player at Montana State University Billings, he fully began to grasp just how special that something was.

Rovens as a freshman in 2014.

Stepping to the plate with two outs in the top of the fourth inning on April 22, 2017, Rovens did something she’d done countless times before, and beat out a ground ball to shortstop for an infield hit.

It was a trip to first base that had become routine throughout her career, but this one was unlike any other she’d taken before.

It was the 208th time Rovens reached safely on a hit in her career, the most ever by a Yellowjacket since the program was established prior to the 2002 season. Five times, Rovens has cleared the fence with a home run, one each in her first three years and a pair so far this season. Add in her 21 doubles and she’s totaled 26 extra-base hits throughout her four seasons.

But it’s the blistering speed and unbreakable focus at the plate that’s led to her signature single, something Rovens has done 184 times and counting. A loud thump as Rovens’ bat smacks her back is followed immediately by a collision of bat and cleat as she taps the dirt – or lack thereof – off her shoe before digging in.

It’s an approach that has turned Rovens into the most prolific offensive player in MSUB history, as she enters the Yellowjackets’ final series this weekend against Simon Fraser No. 1 in hits (210), on-base percentage (.435), starts (183), at-bats (606), runs (154), and walks (87), and No. 3 in steals with 34.

It’s almost unfathomable that Rovens’ left-handed slap technique, which has made her one of only three players in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history with 200 hits, 150 runs, and 85 walks, was once just a crazy thought her father happened to help bring to life.

FAST FEET FIRST “She could always run, but she was just so little. The only thing I could think of was that if we could turn her into a slapper, she could run those ground balls out. It worked out good.” – Ed Rovens on his daughter Bella.

For the first few weeks in the garage, Rovens didn’t even bother holding her bat. Until she mastered the footwork pattern that had been drawn onto the floor by her dad, the daunting thought of changing from a righthanded batter to a lefty took the back burner. “It was really hard,” Rovens recalled. “I would work on getting my feet right every day after school, and there was a heavy weight bag in there my dad would make me hit to make myself strong.”

By then she was in eighth grade, and had only ever swung a bat right handed. That changed when she and lifelong friend Cori Gammon started mastering the art of slap hitting together. The duo went on to play at rival high schools, with Rovens attending Spanish Springs and Gammon competing at Edward C. Reed in Sparks. Though the two were rivals during their prep years, they played on the same club and travel teams in the summer. Rovens always secretly rooted for Gammon. “We were on rival high school teams, but if I was in center and she got on second, I would always talk to her,” Rovens recalled with a smile. “She and I started slapping at the same time, and our dads and coaches helped us learn how to do it.”

Rovens played shortstop and even pitched through her little league years, but by the time she flip-flopped batter’s boxes at the plate she had settled in naturally to her role in center field. Her sophomore year she led Spanish Springs to a state title, and her scope began to shift towards the college level as her success continued.

Rovens rounding third after a walk-off home run her sophomore season.

“Cori and I went on a visit together to MSUB, and we had a great experience when we came here,” Rovens commented on her visit to MSUB in the spring of 2012. “Everything about it fit at the time. I was going to play college ball with my best friend, and it ended up being an easy choice.”

Rovens and Gammon in each of the former’s four years at MSUB. Far right is Gammon presenting Rovens with the Career Achievement Award at the 2017 Buzzies.

Rovens’ chance to compete for the ‘Jackets right away was delayed, as she redshirted her freshman season while Gammon started 37 games as an outfielder. She took the chance to grow as a player under then-head coach Lisa Allen and assistant coach Rebekah Gasner, and hit the ground running starting all 40 games and batting .288 with 40 hits as a freshman in 2014.

“Boomer and Bekah worked hard with me, and helped me get much better than I thought I would be,” Rovens commented on her redshirt season.

“That helped a ton going into my first season.”

Rovens relied on Gammon for advice in their first college season playing together, and after a 20-20 finish on the year the ‘Jackets were poised for a breakout season with Rovens at the head of it all.

LEADING OFF THE RUN OF A LIFETIME “We just got hot and stayed hot, and we never really felt like we were going to lose. Even if we were down in a game, we always knew that we were going to come back. The mentality that whole team had is why the season went the way it did,” – Bella Rovens on MSUB’s run to the NCAA Division II West Region title game in 2015.

Stepping to the plate with two runners on and MSUB trailing 10-9 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Rovens stuck with her slapping approach despite falling behind in the count 1-2. Running up on a pitch high in the zone, Rovens connected on a deep drive to center field that carried over the fence and ended the game as a walk-off, three-run home run.

Rovens at the plate as a junior in 2016.

“The reason that one sticks out, is that it was the only homer that I’ve ever slapped out,” Rovens commented on the swing, which came on April 3, 2015 at home against Central Washington. “Those moments come when you least expect it. Obviously you’re never trying to slap a ball out, but I kept my hands above it somehow, and it was a really cool moment.”

It was a signature hit from one of the best all-around individual seasons in MSUB history, as Rovens started 49 games in the leadoff spot and led the squad with a .392 batting average. Her 51 runs scored and 27 walks that year still stand as MSUB single-season program bests, and she finished the year with 65 hits on her way to second-team all-GNAC honors.

The individual success is the last thing Rovens remembers about the season however, as the Yellowjackets put together one of the top marks in program history at 31-23 overall and 14-8 in GNAC play. The ride culminated with three straight wins in Yakima, Wash., on April 30-May 2, as Rovens and the ‘Jackets swept their way to the conference tournament title and an automatic berth into the west region championships.

From there, the ‘Jackets defeated No. 5 Cal State Monterey Bay and No. 16 Humboldt State, before falling to Sonoma State in the west region title game. “All around, that year was so much fun,” said Rovens. “We had a ton of heart, and different personalities on the team. We did a really good job of being cohesive, and we had a lot of freshmen like Cameron Cassinelli, Amanda Barham, and Heather Tracy stepping into big roles that year.”

The playoff push her sophomore season will stand as the highlight of Rovens’ softball career, but she has followed it up with memorable campaigns both as a junior in 2016 and as a senior this spring with four games left in her career. Last year, Rovens hit .357 with 56 hits in 50 games, while leading the team with 35 runs scored and getting on base at a clip of .423.

While her name will live on permanently for her offensive prowess in the record books, Rovens has also had a flare for the dramatic with her glove work in center field. With the bases loaded against Western Washington on March 25, 2016, Rovens tracked a deep fly ball to the wall and timed a reach of the glove perfectly to bring back a would-be grand slam.

An old outfielder in his own right, it is the moments of defensive brilliance that bring a smile to Ed’s face. “I always taught her to make sure that the ball never lands in the grass,” said Rovens’ father. “When I saw her steal that home run, it showed what playing the outfield is all about. I told her that she had to have pride in that patch of grass being hers, and she really caught on to that.”

HEY, BELLA BELLA “Hey, Bella Bella! Hey Bella Bella Hey Bella Bella Hey!” – The chorus from MSUB’s dugout when the Yellowjackets’ alltime hits leader comes to bat.

Ed Rovens still remembers those talks he and Bella had on their way to tournaments in California. Would she fit in with the other girls? Was she big enough to compete? Questions they each had on their mind that, when revisited today, seem laughable. He and Rovens’ mother, Matina, have been there every step of the way, supporting their daughter through the grueling travel ball trips and her expansive college career across the western United States.

“I tell everybody. It doesn’t seem like a big deal to her now, but it’s a huge deal,” Ed said regarding his daughter breaking the school hits record. “I am really proud of her, and I tell her that all the time.”

A rehabilitation and related services major at MSUB, Rovens spent last summer working in an emergency room and has developed a passion for becoming a nurse after completing her degree.

Since Rovens and Gammon arrived in the fall of 2012, five other players from Sparks have inked letters of intent to join the Yellowjackets. Rovens has played for three different head coaches during that time, and is grateful to each for shaping her as a player in a variety of ways. “Boomer always pushed me to be better, and she always knew I could get to balls that I didn’t think I could get to,” said Rovens. “Coach Rayman and Coach Allen have made this the ideal senior year, even though we haven’t had the outcome we wanted as a team. They both push all of us to always be a better person, and I love the confidence they have in their players and lineup. I’m glad I had a year with both of them.”

Rovens will dig into the box somewhere around 12 more times before all is said and done. She still has the four screws and metal rod in her leg after breaking it as a freshman in high school. She’ll carry them with her out to center field, where the lawn will lose a blade of grass or two at her expense between every pitch.

As he watches from the bleachers, Ed may think back to that original question Bella used to ask of whether or not the other players were going to like her. He’ll undoubtedly smile when he thinks about the answer he always provided. “It’s softball. If you can hit, run, and catch, they’ll like you.”

Unlike any Yellowjacket before her, Bella Rovens has done it all.

Rovens’ swing as a freshman-through-senior, with the photo far right being her record-breaking 208th career hit.

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