McMullen’s softball odyssey taking her from Pike County to state’s capitol to fulfill competitive drive

BARRY, Ill. — Rachel McMullen’s softball journey began innocently enough.

A video of McMullen’s first tee ball at-bat — posted to her X account on March 3 — shows a 5-year-old McMullen hitting the tee with her first swing, but after reloading and taking another hack, making solid contact, dropping the bat and running to first.

Little did McMullen know at the time that she had taken the first swings in a career that would still be going strong 13 years later.

“Honestly, I did not expect any of this to go the way it has,” said McMullen, now a senior catcher for the Western softball team.

And that career will continue into the college ranks. In less than five months, McMullen’s next destination on her journey will be the University of Illinois-Springfield, where she signed in December.

“It’s getting really surreal,” McMullen said.

While McMullen has no recollection of that first at-bat without aid of the video, she does remember her mother, Stacy McMullen, getting her primed for success at an early age.

“I remember being in tee ball and my mom would take the tee away and we’d do front toss in the games,” Rachel McMullen said. “I was always trying to work to be better.”

When Rachel made her official visit to UIS on March 22 and 23, those early memories and many more came flooding back.

“I didn’t think it would feel like that, but it felt like everything I worked for had paid off,” McMullen said. “All the hours I spent, this is what it led to. It was an amazing feeling.”

As McMullen’s softball talents blossomed, college softball seemed like a formality, but it was not always that way. McMullen had not strongly considered playing at the next level until her 12U team — the Pike County Little League All-Stars — won the Illinois state championship and reached the semifinals of the 2019 Little League Softball World Series central regional tournament, coming two wins shy of reaching the global competition.

“Before that, I was just out there to have fun,” McMullen said. “I didn’t really think about going to college (to play softball). Then I played in that high level of competition, and it was really just a great experience. I had so much fun out there. It was very competitive, and that’s what made me decide I wanted to play in college.”

A tireless work ethic and back-to-back All-West Central Conference selections as a sophomore and junior at Western justified McMullen’s ambition to play college softball, but for a brief time, she pondered being a two-sport athlete in college.

“In the beginning, it was just softball, but around my freshman and sophomore year, (Western volleyball coach) Anna (Hechler) mentioned that maybe I should consider seeing about playing college volleyball,” McMullen said. 

By the time her four-year volleyball career at Western concluded last fall, McMullen became the Wildcats’ all-time digs leader. She also earned first-team all-state plaudits from the Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association as a senior.

Even with those accolades, McMullen’s first love won out.

“I was very interested in being a dual-spot athlete for a while, but at the end of the day, softball was my biggest passion, and if I wanted to go to a bigger university and play, I was going to have to just choose one,” McMullen said.

McMullen still has unfinished business in Barry before she heads to the state’s capital this fall. McMullen and the Wildcats are off to a 3-1 start, with their most recent win coming against Pleasant Hill, which Western had not beaten in five meetings since 2019.

Rachel Motley, the Wildcats’ first-year coach, had seen McMullen play several times as a fan, but she now has a front-row seat to what McMullen brings to the softball diamond.

“Really everything,” Motley said. “She’s a leader on our team. She has an arm. She’s a true athlete.”

McMullen also put that athleticism on display for the Pleasant Hill-Western basketball team, for which she was the second-leading scorer and made 63 3-pointers in 31 games last season.

“It’s never been my top sport, but I definitely enjoy getting to stay in shape and shooting,” McMullen said. “Those are definitely my favorite parts.”

While softball is McMullen’s “serious” sport, her accomplishments in basketball and volleyball have revealed that her same competitive fire extends as much to both courts as it does to the softball field.

“Volleyball’s just my sport where I can let loose and have fun,” McMullen said. “That’s always been the one where I’m just like, ‘I’m just here to have fun. It’s going to be how it’s going to be,’ but I’m so competitive that I try to be the best in everything I can.”

As such, the competitive juices are ever-flowing at the McMullen household, especially between Rachel and her younger sister, Alexis.

“When I’m outside with my sister, it’s always got to be a competition,” Rachel McMullen said. “We have to compete for something.”

Amidst playing three sports, maintaining a 4.0 GPA and being involved in several school clubs and organizations, Rachel has still found time to mentor Alexis, who will be a freshman at Western in the fall.

“I feel like I’ve set a good example for her,” Rachel McMullen said. “She did Junior Miss a couple years ago, and one of the things she said was that I was a great role model for her. If I don’t have a practice or something, I’ll go hang out at her practices and give pointers to the girls, so I feel like I’ve been a great role model to her and the younger ones.”

Those leadership skills will serve McMullen well in her future plans to become a coach once her playing days are through, but with her college softball and eventual coaching career still on the horizon, she is channeling the same energy and joy that little Rachel had so she can make even more memories during her final season at Western.

“This year, I’m just here to have fun,” McMullen said. “I’m here to make memories. This is my last year playing on this field, so I’m just here to have as much fun as I can.”