By the time they reach college, most athletes have been playing their chosen sport for some time. Likely more than a decade.

The skills, mechanics and muscle memory required to succeed are there. The athletes are programmed to perform.

But sometimes the mind can short-circuit that programming and restrict performance. That’s the situation Sydney Lokay experienced with the Westminster softball team.

After showing flashes of potential during her freshman year — .321 batting average in 17 appearances, 28 at-bats — the Norwin grad produced only a .211 batting average during her sophomore season, when she started 36 of 37 games in which she appeared.

Lokay admitted she felt pressure. She was one of only a couple of underclassmen starting on a senior-driven team.

“I felt like every game could have been my last game last year,” she said.

Entering this season, those seniors had graduated. Lokay was now a junior and one of the veteran players on the team. She knew something had to change, especially because, despite her struggles the previous season, she was voted a captain by her teammates.

Veteran coach Jan Reddinger could see a difference right away.

“It’s that she took the leadership role this year,” said the 29th-year coach. “We had seven starters graduate last year, and it’s almost like she felt like she had to take control. … I think she played a lot more relaxed this year than last year.”

Lokay’s numbers speak volumes. Starting all 32 games in which she appeared, Lokay hit .333 with 32 hits (double her 2023 total), seven doubles (more than twice as many as her first two years combined) and 17 RBIs (more than her first two seasons combined).

Her performance at the plate and in the field were instrumental in the Titans (25-11) capturing their first Presidents’ Athletic Conference title in 19 years, upsetting favorite Waynesburg in the final.

Lokay was named to the all-tournament team, and the knee-jerk reaction is to believe she excelled on offense. While she did contribute three hits, a run and an RBI over the four games, it was her defense in center field, Reddinger said, that landed her on the all-tournament team.

“I can’t tell you the number of balls where we were like, ‘Aw, man. That’s a double.’ And she ran them down,” Reddinger said.

“She was kind of possessed like nothing was going to fall. I’ve never seen her run as fast. I’ve never seen her track down so many balls.”

Added Lokay: “When we started that PAC championship game, for lack of a better word, it was like locking in. … You would think it was so much pressure and so many nerves, but it was such a calm.”

That’s a far cry from where she was just a year ago: an uncertain sophomore trying her hardest to fit in with a seasoned group of seniors. Maybe trying too hard.

Lokay said she did a mental reset. It was something she knew she needed to do as one of the older players on the team.

“You could chalk it up to, I don’t have much time left in my softball career,” she said. “Being realistic about it, this isn’t a life-or-death situation, and this is supposed to be fun and what I’ve prepared for my whole life.

“… Stepping into an upperclassman role this year and a leadership role this year, it was a step up in a lot of aspects, and one of them had to be leading by example and being that calm, confident presence for underclassmen to look up to so they don’t go through the same struggles that I did, that I brought on myself with pressure last year.”

She also stepped into a new position, her second in as many seasons.

Lokay was recruited as a pitcher and made eight appearances on the mound — 11 total innings — her freshman season. As a sophomore, she was switched to third base, a position she hadn’t played in the entirety of her softball experience.

But because the outfield was occupied by three seniors and because Lokay had a strong arm, quick feet and what Reddinger described as a “no fear” attitude, the coach decided to slot her at third base.

Lokay turned out to be more than serviceable, committing only four errors all season.

“I felt that was kind of a head-space thing, too,” Lokay said. “I had played middle infield growing up. On the mound, I had to field as well. But working on small-ball plays that a third baseman does like covering bunts and first-and-third plays and covering bags and things like that is where I had to do a lot of growing.”

She landed in center field this season. Though she had played it sparingly throughout her high school years, she at least had some experience.

Lokay said, unlike third base, she had time to think about what she was going to do when a ball was coming at her. And even though she often had freshmen playing on both sides of her, she said she was able to learn from them because they had come up as full-time outfielders.

Her new demeanor and quick study in the outfield led to her all-tournament performance.

“We had done a lot of practice the week prior, just chasing down balls, sprinting after balls,” Lokay said. “There was no ball that went up in the air that I couldn’t catch. I had an aggressive, kind of at-the-ball mindset … pushing my range in the game instead of just going after what I knew I could catch and what I was already comfortable with.”

The Titans began play in the NCAA Division III Tournament over the weekend. Regardless of that outcome, the Titans will have a PAC title to defend next season, something they haven’t had to do in two decades.

Lokay will be a senior and, she said, a much different player than she was in her first two seasons. The nerves are gone. The self-inflicted pressure is gone. All she focuses on now is leading the young players through her words and actions.

“I don’t think she’s going to have a problem taking a leadership role next year,” Reddinger said. “I just hope that she doesn’t feel like everything has to go on her shoulders, and I think she’s learned that, that she has a team behind her, and she just does her own thing.”

Added Lokay: “I’ve always been told I have very natural leader-like qualities. To be able to have that ability and be able to use it in such a positive and beneficial way is very rewarding for me.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)