ST. LOUIS – Senior
Mandi Roemmich (West Des Moines, Iowa) of the Drake University softball team has been selected as one of 10 student-athletes to receive the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Good Neighbor award for the 2019-20 spring season, the conference office announced Tuesday, April 21.
Roemmich's four-year standout career on-and-off the softball field ended abruptly in mid-March due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. She batted .333 with five doubles, 14 runs batted in and scored a team-high 18 runs in the shortened 2020 season.
In four seasons, Roemmich helped Drake win 124 games, become the first MVC program to sweep back-to-back MVC regular season and tournament titles in 2018 and 2019 and earn consecutive NCAA Tournament berths for the first time in school history.
Roemmich was the first Drake softball player to be named MVC Player of the Year when she won the top award in 2018. She was a three-time All-MVC choice, who made 186 starts at shortstop, and finished her career at or near the top of several all-time statistical categories at Drake. Roemmich leaves as the all-time leader in career doubles with 43 and was just six hits and six runs from tying the program's all-time mark in both categories, finishing with 215 hits and 132 runs scored. Her hits total ranks third all-time and her runs total is the second most in school history. She holds the single-season runs record with 54 in 2019, at-bats in a season with 192 (2019) and is second all-time in career batting average with a .366 mark.
An excellent student who holds a 4.00 GPA in biology, Roemmich was named to the 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team and twice was selected to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team. Roemmich earned the MVC Elite 17 academic award two times. Roemmich will start dental school this fall at the University of Iowa.
She volunteered her time in the Drake and Des Moines communities, including serving as a Drake SAAC representative and across the metro with ALS Iowa, United Sports Volleyball with Special Olympics Iowa, Courage League Sports, Meals from the Heartland and Lutheran Church of Hope.
This year's spring honorees with Roemmich include Emma Jackson, Bradley; Halie Fain, Evansville, Softball; Mack Leonard, Illinois State, Softball; Collin Liberatore, Indiana State, Baseball; Katie Polaski, Loyola, Softball; Alye Darter, Missouri State, Women's Tennis; Jaclyn Spencer, UNI, Softball; Erica Kerr, Southern Illinois; Women's Golf; Brian Pecyna, Valparaiso, Men's Tennis.
In order to be eligible for the award, the student-athlete must be in good academic standing, must demonstrate good citizenship through good sportsmanship and significant community service, and must participate in a sport, during the season of recognition. The Valley recognizes 10 student-athletes three times annually (fall, winter, spring), for a total of 30 honorees. Institutions select their State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award honorees.