It’s been a good year for Kendall Rumans.
Between leading Panther softball to a Mountain Seven Conference title and breaking career team records in home runs and RBIs, the junior turned in one of the greatest seasons in program history. Last week The Press published Part I of a wide-ranging interview with Rumans; Part II can be found below and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
So tell me about your travel ball team – is that out of Atlanta?
Yeah, the team itself is out of Atlanta, but the girls on the team are from all over – I would say mostly the whole eastern part of the United States. They’re from Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, New York – they’re from everywhere. I would say probably half of them are from Georgia, but the other half are from all over the states. … It’s called Impact Caymol, and there’s a bunch of different ones, but I’m on the 16U Premier one. There’s a few other 16U ones, and there’s 18U ones, and younger ones obviously.
How often will you play and practice with them during the offseason?
We don’t practice a lot as a team – it’s hard because everybody’s from so far away. I would say we probably have two big team practices a year, that’s it, and then obviously we’re expected to just do our stuff on our own. Our coach gives us programs to practice with – running programs and all kinds of stuff like that – and he just expects us to do it because if we’re not going to do it, he’s going to know. He’s going to be able to tell who does the work and who doesn’t.
Do y’all travel all over to play different teams? How does that work?
Yeah, so last summer we’d just go to these big tournaments – there’s some in Atlanta, and there’s some really big tournaments in Colorado, California and Florida that we went to, so it’s just kind of all over the country. It’s weird because you play teams from Atlanta in California – like you’ll travel across the country just to play each other when you could have played 30 minutes apart, but all the teams in the country go to these tournaments.
That sounds like a pretty big deal; you must be tired after that.
Yeah, it’s definitely a lot. Right now my team is playing like week-long tournaments, and they’re back-to-back. So you only get a few days at home and it’s just traveling over and over, but it’s really fun.
Does the travel kind of get old after a while?
It does. I miss being home when I am traveling a lot, but this summer I’m like, “I just wish I wasn’t home.” I’m just so tired of being home – I want to play so bad.
Have you been talking with your travel ball coaches about your rehab and keeping them updated on how your back is feeling?
Yeah, I’ve been keeping them updated probably every few weeks or every month, just letting them know how I’m doing. Obviously they’re upset that I can’t play, but they obviously want what’s best for me, and they want me to be better when I go to college, especially, so they’re super understanding about it.
That’s good. Do they pretty much play until the spring high school season starts?
Pretty much. The summer season is over at the beginning of August [because] a lot of the girls are from Georgia, and Georgia plays their high school season in the fall instead of the spring. So, there’s a little break until the end of October, and then it’s just weekend tournaments that are more local. I think last year we played one weekend tournament in Clearwater, Florida, but other than that, they’re all kind of like Georgia, Tennessee, local like that.
So how does playing for the travel team kind of help you during the high school season?
It definitely makes the high school season seem a lot easier, because a lot of the girls we play on the travel team are all going to college. That’s why you play travel ball – it’s for the college coaches to be able to watch you and stuff. So, a lot of the pitchers you face are really good. I’m not saying the high school teams are bad, but it’s just a completely different level, I would say.
Speaking of pitching, was it kind of nice not having to pitch as much this year with having Suzanna [Cabe] up on the team?
It was definitely nice. I feel like I can focus a lot more on my hitting, and I really enjoy playing outfield. I just haven’t liked pitching as much the older I’ve gotten – I liked it a lot when I was younger, but I just kind of grew out of loving it. So, it was really nice to have her.
Would that kind of wear on your arm after a while last year when you were pitching so much?
Definitely. It was tiring pitching two or three games a week and having to hit too, and then having to practice every other day is definitely a lot, so props to her for doing that and pitching almost every game. But she loves it, so I’m glad she did good.
How did you feel about Suzanna overall, breaking the strikeout record as a freshman? How did she kind of help you guys this year?
That was awesome. Without her, I don’t know what we would have done – I would have had to pitch every single game. She’s just so good. With her being a freshman the teams had never seen her before, so it was completely new for them. She definitely helped us win a lot of games that we wouldn’t have won otherwise.
I know that you committed to Appalachian State this past year; what made you choose them? Have you always wanted to go there?
I’d honestly never even thought about going there until my parents mentioned going to a camp there, and I was like, “OK, I guess I’ll go.” And then I went there, and the second I got there, I was like, “This is where I want to go to college.” … I just had such a good feeling about the coaches and the team and the town – I just fell in love with it as soon as I went there.
Have you gotten to talk with the coaches at all and see what they kind of have in mind for you next year?
Yeah, I’ve talked with them a little bit, and I think they mostly want me to hit at the plate, but I’ll probably play outfield when I go there.
If you could give the younger you some advice, what would you tell her looking back with what you know now?
Oh my gosh … I’d probably tell her to not take things so seriously and just have fun, because it’s supposed to be fun. The more you don’t worry about it the more fun you’re going to have, and the better you’re going to do, honestly – the less you’re worried about being perfect and just going out there and playing for the little girl that wanted to play softball in the first season.
Obviously we’re still several months out, but how do you feel about this coming year for the high school team, and what do you think y’all can do?
I’m super excited about it – I think we’re going to do really good. I think we’re going to do better than this year because we only lost one senior, and we’re gaining a lot of upcoming freshmen that are really good and did really well on the eighth grade team. I know two of them, and I know they’re both very good, so I’m super excited about that – I think we’re going to do great. I think Susanna’s just going to do even better next year because I know she’s a hard worker and she’s just going to work until the season to do better, so I think we’ll do really good.
And how do you feel about being a senior this year?
It’s a lot of emotions, because ... I feel like I shouldn’t be this old, and I feel like I’ve only been in high school for a year – It’s crazy. I know everybody always says it goes by fast, and I was like, “It’s four years, It’s not going to go by fast.” But it really has gone by very fast, and ... I don’t want to think about it because it makes me so sad to think it’s my last season playing here, but I’m really grateful I get to play in college too, and it’s not completely over.
Well, guess I’ve kept you for long enough, but I appreciate your time. I hope the back feels better soon.
Thank you so much.