Hall of Fame
A dominant force on the diamond during her years at Orange Lutheran and beyond, Lancer alumna Rachel Bomgren '03 left a lasting impact on OLu's softball program.
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Bomgren was an integral part of OLu softball's only CIF titles, helping to lead the Lancers to back-to-back championships in 2001 and 2002. The standout shortstop was a three-time league champion, an All-League honoree, and CIF Player of the Year in 2002.
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In recognition of her accomplishments and contributions to the OLu softball program, Bomgren will be honored this June as one of eight inductees into the 2025 Orange Lutheran Athletics Hall of Fame.
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Bomgren began playing softball at just six years old. As the middle child of five, she grew up on the baseball and softball fields, where her parents kept all their kids actively involved from an early age. She also had the unique opportunity to develop her skills under the guidance of her father, Dan Bomgren, who served as her coach from the very beginning.
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"My dad was an athletic guy in general…and he was a volleyball player growing up, but he loved softball and baseball," said Bomgren. "So that was always fun, and obviously, it was something that we were able to bond over and do together and be very passionate about together."
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Although none of her siblings attended OLu, Bomgren chose that path on her own, inspired by her best friend and Lancer teammate, Tiffany Worthy '03, who had decided to become a Lancer.
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While softball was familiar territory for Bomgren, she began her freshman year at OLu without knowing many people. To get more involved, she joined the school's volleyball program, a sport she went on to play all four years. But she couldn't wait for spring so she could get out on the softball diamond, and there, she found camaraderie and a sense of belonging that made OLu feel like home.
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"It was somewhere where I was very comfortable, and I loved playing," said Bomgren of OLu's softball program. "There were no differences with anybody. We were all on one team, we were all one unit, and we were all trying to accomplish the same thing. Nothing else really mattered besides us playing ball together and competing."
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During Bomgren's sophomore season, the Lancers defeated Paraclete 4-0 to win the CIF-SS Division 5 championship, and then repeated as champions in 2002 when OLu moved up to Division 4 and beat Oak Park, 2-0 in the title game.
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While the back-to-back titles may have surprised some, they didn't surprise Bomgren or her father, who served as an assistant coach under OLu softball head coach Steve Miklos. After the team won its first championship in 2001, her father encouraged her to wait on getting a ring, as he was confident that the Lancers would bring home another title the following season.
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It was a gamble, but it paid off, and Bomgren earned her ring engraved with "Back-to-Back."
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"We were looking at the roster, and from sophomore to my junior year, we weren't really losing a lot of people," said Bomgren. "So it was that extra push to make sure I got my ring…I remember the squad that we had was a special one where I felt like we were unstoppable."
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Bomgren's junior season was also memorable as it was the one year she stepped away from travel softball. After her sophomore year concluded, she shared with her father that she was experiencing burnout. But instead of quitting the sport altogether, she continued to play for the Lancers.
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"I don't regret it, and I think that's what I needed at that time," said Bomgren. "But I never thought about quitting high school ball because there was no point. It was just too fun… I look back on my high school days and I loved it because of the friends I made."
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Taking a break from travel ball in her junior year left her college softball future up in the air. Bomgren was unsure if she wanted to continue playing and hoped to discover who she was away from the diamond. But she returned to travel ball her senior season and ultimately committed to Vanguard University.
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Bomgren played for the Lions for four seasons as shortstop and leadoff batter. Mostly a slap hitter in high school, she found her power in college and started hitting home runs. She earned GSAC Player of the Year honors in her senior season, and most of all, she found her love for the game again.
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"I feel like I came into my own in college," said Bomgren. "It was fun because I was confident in what I was doing, and I was having fun along the way."
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After graduating from Vanguard in 2007 with a degree in business administration management, Bomgren landed a position with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the company she is still with nearly 18 years later. After starting at a Huntington Beach branch, she held positions across Southern California for 12 years, including in Long Beach and at LAX.
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Bomgren was then promoted to the regional rental manager over Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Middle East and Africa and spent three years overseeing 16 countries based out of the UK.
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In 2022, she and her husband made their way back to the U.S. and are currently in Boston, where Bomgren is a regional rental manager overseeing 54 locations in Massachusetts. Known for hiring college athletes, she loves the challenge and opportunities Enterprise has provided, and she credits her time playing softball with preparing her to pursue this career path.
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"Once I left the field, it was like what am I going to do without the competitive spirit and working with the team," said Bomgren. "But I joined Enterprise and it's exactly that. We work together as a team, and you're competing against each other. But in the end, you all want the team to win."
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Bomgren is grateful for Coach Miklos, who made the game fun while bringing out the best in his players, and for OLu, which gave her a high school experience athletically, academically, and spiritually that was unexpected but exactly what she needed.
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"I loved my experience there," said Bomgren of OLu. "I loved the smaller classes, and I loved the teachers…I liked the idea of going to chapel, and I liked talking openly about God…I just felt way more connected. They were actually people who cared about you."
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And as for being inducted into the Orange Lutheran Athletics Hall of Fame, the selection came as a surprise to Bomgren, but it's one she holds in the highest regard.
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"It's really exciting, and it's one of the biggest honors that I could have ever achieved," said Bomgren. "I look back at my life, and I poured my heart into softball…and I do feel like it made me who I am today."
