One constant during Sam Houston State’s ups and downs over the past few years has been pitcher Lindsey McLeod. Now the senior ace of the Bearkats’ staff, McLeod leads the team from the pitching circle.
McLeod saw her workload go up nearly every year of her career in Huntsville, to the tune of nearly 200 innings of work in 2018. As her inning count went up, McLeod’s effectiveness increased; her ERA has gone down more than a full run year-to-year in each season of her career to this point.
The Bearkats’ fourth-year ace, McLeod boasts a 37-32 career record, with 456 career strikeouts. Already in 2019, McLeod owns a 3.27 ERA with sixty-five strikeouts in just over sixty-three innings of work. Opponents have hit just .219 against her in her career.
We sat down with McLeod to talk about her career at Sam Houston; her process as an athlete; and how she has put together such a consistent career as a Bearkat.
Justin’s World of Softball: How did you get started playing softball? Did you play any other sports as a young athlete?
Lindsey McLeod: My older sister brought home a flier from school for a little league softball team before I had even started elementary school. She decided she wanted to play softball, and being the younger sister that wanted to do everything my older sister did, I signed up also. I was four years old when I first started playing, and have never played a sport besides softball.
JWOS: What factors played in and ultimately made you decide to call Sam Houston your collegiate “home”?
McLeod: Collegiate softball had always been one of my biggest dreams. When I was a sophomore in high school, I received an offer to play softball for Sam Houston State University. Shortly after, I came on an unofficial visit. Campus made me feel at home, and I loved the small-town vibe of Huntsville. Sam Houston was definitely a place I could see myself living out my dream and earning my degree. About six months after receiving the initial offer, I decide to verbally commit. It has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made!
JWOS: Walk me through your approach and mindset when you’re in the circle and preparing to face a hitter.
McLeod: Basically, I just remind myself that I am prepared for that moment. I cast out any fear by reminding myself that I am a child of God, and no failure, no loss, no “bad game” could ever take my identity out of His hands. That allows me to play with total freedom and without fear of failure. I am competitive and I have a winning mindset constantly when I am in the circle, but I also don’t let the fear of losing keep me from giving it my all, or scare me away from a challenge.
JWOS: You’ve been remarkably consistent through your career, improving in each season. To what do you attribute that impressive consistency?
McLeod: The transition from high school to college was tough at first, but the more familiar I got, the more comfortable I became. To be honest, I cannot take much credit for the consistency and success that I have experienced. The majority of my consistency has to do with God-given ability, my teammates, and my training. I have been blessed with athletic ability. Softball has always come very natural to me. My teammates also make me look a lot better than I actually am. I can always count on them to make plays behind me and I know that any time a ball is in play, they are going to do everything they can to make a play. Also, our pitching staff works very hard during the week to prepare for our opponents.
JWOS: If at all, how has your preseason preparation changed over the years as you’ve become a more experienced collegiate athlete?
McLeod: My preseason preparation hasn’t changed much over the years as I became more experienced. During the preseason, we pinpoint weaknesses from previous seasons and work on them so that I can hopefully be better in that aspect the following season.
JWOS: How difficult is it to experience a coaching change right before your final collegiate season? Does it help to have the continuity of the new coach having already been on staff and be a familiar face?
McLeod: Typically, a coaching change right before my senior season would have thrown a lot of things off. However, that wasn’t the case when Coach Valis was named head coach. He already knew who I was as a player and as a person. He has done incredible things for the culture of our program and I know we are all so thankful for his leadership over our team. I could not have asked for a better way to finish out my softball career.
JWOS: Favorite moment of your career, to this point?
McLeod: My favorite moment of my career to this point was our outing at the conference tournament last year. In regular season, we barely squeezed our way into qualifying for the tournament, and we ended up proving a lot of people wrong during the tournament. We came into the tournament as the 8th seed and ended up taking 4th place in the tournament, knocking out both the 2nd seed and the 5th seed.
JWOS: How do you balance a challenging Division I academic workload with all that comes with being a D1 athlete? What works for you?
McLeod: It’s definitely been very tough, but the most important thing is time management. You have to have your priorities straight in order to be successful. During season, it gets tough to manage all of the school work when we are traveling most every week, but you really just have to use any available free time you have to get stuff done.
JWOS: What are your goals, both personally and for your team, in 2019?
McLeod: Personally, my goal is to lead our team to the best of my ability. Whatever my role may be on any given day, I want to be the best teammate I can possibly be. I have waited three years for the team that we have this year and I truly cherish every moment I have with these girls. As a team, I think we all want a little “bling bling” on our finger, but right now, we are just taking it one day and one game at a time.
Photo: Brian Blalock/SHSU via gobearkats.com
