Who is Delaware's best all-time softball player? VOTE now
Who is Delaware's best all-time softball player? VOTE now
Kevin Tresolini, Delaware News JournalMon, June 1, 2026 at 9:12 AM UTC
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Few Delaware athletes have won Olympic gold medals.
Softball is one of the sports that has produced someone who has made that ultimate athletic achievement.
But Delcastle High graduate Dionna Harris hasn’t been the only First State softball player to make headlines, though she made the biggest news. The sport has yielded a slew of high-level players, especially pitchers, whose singular impact on the game can be especially extensive and impressive.
With the United States nearing its 250th anniversary of gaining independence, USA TODAY Sports will celebrate the 250 greatest American sports figures of all time.
At the root of that are the high school athletes who became familiar names in their schools, communities and the state of Delaware while making headlines with their athletic exploits. The USA TODAY Network hopes to first spotlight those individuals.
Here in Delaware, we’re compiling lists of the best players in several sports. We recently published a collection of top Delaware football, field hockey, boys and girls basketball and baseball players
Staying on the diamond, now it’s softball’s turn. These are our choices for Delaware’s 10 best softball standouts, listed alphabetically:
Regan Green
The right-handed pitcher had a career ERA of 0.70 and averaged better than two strikeouts per inning while sparking Laurel to 2013 and 2014 state championships. She threw a perfect game in one. Green then went 11-6 with a 1.85 ERA in two years at Mississippi State and 15-11 with a 2.92 ERA in two years at Baylor. She struck out 254 batters in 287 college innings.
Archmere grad Rachel Gillen pitching for Fordham.Rachel Gillen
Gillen was three-time Delaware Gatorade Player of the Year and an All-American while starring at Archmere, where she was 69-10 with an 0.31 ERA, 1,161 strikeouts and threw 25 no-hitters. Gillen spent her freshman college season in 2012 at Virginia, getting five wins in 19 appearances. She then had elbow surgery and transferred to Fordham, where she went 48-25 with a 4.23 ERA and batted .314 with nine home runs from 2014-16. She was voted Outstanding Player in the 2015 and 2016 Atlantic 10 tournaments.
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Dionna HarrisDionna Harris
Harris was a guard on Delcastle High’s 1985 state championship basketball team and then was All-State in softball. She starred in softball at DelTech, earning her way to Temple, where Harris was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 second baseman. She then played for various pro and touring teams to earn a spot on the U.S. national team. She won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics while leading the U.S. with a .409 batting average.
Veronica Homiak pitches for Caravel.Veronica Homiak
Homiak put Caravel on the state softball map, pitching the Bucs to their first state title in 1991 during a three-year run as Delaware’s best pitcher. From 1990-93, Homiak was 47-4 and struck out 446 in 313 innings. She had ERAs of 0.66 as a sophomore, .047 as a junior and 0.65 as a senior and threw several perfect games. Homiak then pitched two seasons at the University of Delaware.
Brandy Jester of Sussex Central cranks up some velocity during game against Delmar Tuesday May 9, 2006.Brandy Jester
The right-handed pitcher was state Player of the Year as a Sussex Central senior in 2007. She was 14-0 with a 0.26 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 80 innings and also batted. 472. She won the 2005 state title game pitching in relief and was also first-team All-State in 2006. Jester was then a two-time first-team All-Conference pick and league Freshman Player of the Year at Wheeling Jesuit. She transferred to Queens and had a 2.85 ERA, 135 strikeouts and threw a no-hitter while also being one of the team’s best hitters in 2010.
Audie KujalaAudie Kujala
The Concord High graduate batted .560 and was Broderick Award winner as national player of the year in college softball in 1977 at the University of Delaware. Kujala, who also starred for the Blue Hens’ national power field hockey team, was later an all-star in the Women’s Professional Fast-Pitch Softball League playing for the Connecticut Falcons.
Caravel's Zayda Rocke hits a three-run home run in the sixth inning of the Buccaneers' 3-1 win against Laurel at Caravel Academy, April 22, 2025.Zayda Rocke
Extra Inning Softball ranked Rocke as the top catcher in the Northeast when she closed her high school career at Caravel in 2025 and became the first Delaware player to be on five state championship teams. She batted .387 with eight homers for the Bucs in 2025 while earning first-team All-State. Rocke started all but one of Maryland’s 48 games as a freshman in 2026 and was second on the team with nine homers and third with 30 RBI.
Carolyn Szymanski
The hard-throwing right-handed pitcher was a four-time first-team All-State pick from 2010-13 and state Player of the Year her senior season for Caravel. She sparked the Bucs to 2010 and 2011 state championships. Szymanski was 76-11 with 777 strikeouts in 515 2/3 career innings, with 12 shutouts and seven no-hitters for the Bucs. She was also an offensive force, batting .426 with three homers and 29 RBI as a senior. Szymanski then pitched three seasons for Delaware, going 41-37 with a 3.36 ERA and 315 strikeouts, which ranked fourth in school history at the time, in 439 2/3 innings.
Padua grad Laura Taylor as a Seton Hall freshman.Laura Taylor
Taylor was a four-year starter and All-State catcher at Padua, where she batted .483 as a senior, before becoming Big East Player of the Year at Seton Hall University in both 2004 and 2005. Taylor was first-team All-Big East and All-Northeast Region three times while sparking the Pirates to the NCAA Tournament her last two years. Her 59 career home runs remain a Seton Hall record and are 18th in NCAA Division I history. Her 160 RBI are also the school career mark. She batted .309.
Tayler Vitola
Vitola was a two-time first-team All-State choice and 2019 state Player of the Year as a junior at Appoquinimink, where she batted .603 with 31 runs and 24 stolen bases that season. The shortstop batted .609 for her career with 53 stolen bases before her senior season was erased by the COVID-19 pandemic. She then starred while mainly playing second base at UNC-Wilmington. She started 191 career games for the Seahawks and batted .338 with 71 stolen bases while earning frequent Coastal Athletic Association honors, including 2024 Female Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Who is Delaware's best all-time softball player? VOTE now
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