Senior pitcher Lindsey McLeod is a leader of the Sam Houston State University softball team. Last season she made school history by striking out a record 222 hitters as a Bearkat.
McLeod has focused on softball for almost her entire life. She never played another sport after first picking up softball when she was five years old.
She is not only the school’s single season record holder for strikeouts, but she is also on pace to set the school’s all-time strikeout record later this year. McLeod is currently in the top five in SHSU history in saves and top 10 in school history in wins, as well. Simply put, McLeod’s name will be engraved in the record books when she finishes her collegiate career.
In what is now her senior season, McLeod feels a bit more responsibility to take over as a leader of the team and has embraced that role.
“I feel like I’ve always had a natural leadership ability,” McLeod said. “I feel like it has put me in a good position just to be someone that the other girls look up to.”
Last season the Bearkats were up and down throughout Southland Conference play, going 13-14 in the regular season and limping into the tournament. When they did get to the conference tournament, though, they made their presence felt. After defeating the University of Central Arkansas in an elimination game, the Kats beat No. 2 Stephen F. Austin State University on the second day of the tournament. The team’s hopes of making a Cinderella run through the conference tournament ended the next day when they took on Southeastern Louisiana for the second time in three days and lost 7-6 in nine innings. Despite not getting the result they wanted, McLeod was encouraged by her team’s resilience and fight during the conference tournament and is excited about this season.
“I saw a lot more competitiveness than I’ve ever seen from our team in the past,” McLeod said. “It’s really exciting coming back from that performance last year because I know what we can do, and we’ve added even more talent going into this year.”
So far this season McLeod has been up and down. Against Texas Southern University on Wednesday, McLeod was dominant as she struck out 12 batters in just 4 2/3 innings. In her last outing, however, in the Getterman Classic championship against the University of Texas at Arlington McLeod did not have her best stuff— allowing three runs in 4 2/3 innings without a strikeout.
SHSU will be on the road until its conference opener March 8 against Northwestern State University. The team will be in San Marcos on Wednesday to take on the Texas State University Bobcats before heading to Austin on Friday for the Texas Invitational.
