After a freshman season that consisted of several shattered freshman Aggie records and a second-team All America selection, Cali Lanphear set high benchmarks for her sophomore campaign.
It didn’t go as planned. For the first time, the outfielder struggled on the softball diamond. And she’s ready to regain her old form this season as a junior tasked with leading a young team.
“Each year brings its own challenges and great moments so you have to take everything from each year,” Lanphear said. “Of course I think back to [my freshman year] and it was great how my swing felt, but I think last year really set me on a good stage for this year. I really learned a lot. I’ve never been in a position where I was struggling like that through playing softball. I’d always had a lot of success and never really had to worry about struggling, but I think it has definitely made me a stronger player on and off the field.”
Lanphear was recruited out of Montgomery, Texas, where she won three state championships. The accolades followed when she stepped onto the diamond in Aggieland.
In her freshman season, Lanphear made an immediate impact, earning 54 starts in the outfield. She lead the team in batting average (.362), runs (48), RBI (58), home runs (21), extra-base hits (32), on base percentage (.439) and slugging percentage (.855). She was placed on the SEC All-Freshman team and later to the USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List before the beginning of her sophomore year.
But she struggled from the plate and competed for playing time behind seniors Emily Albus and Cassie Tysarczyk and rising junior speedster Brittany Clopton.
Lanphear is showing improvement already this season with a .300 batting average and is second on the team with six RBIs. The duo of Lanphear and junior Alex Masek are ready to lead a young Aggie softball club and are out to prove people wrong.
“People aren’t going to expect anything from us and we’re going to use that to our advantage,” Masek said.
Head coach Jo Evans said Lanphear gets along well with her teammates in the clubhouse.
“She’s upbeat but kind of quiet, not real outgoing,” Evans said. “She definitely likes to have fun, laugh and have a good time. She’s someone that is really on task. She loves to have all of her stuff in order and be on top of things. She gets along great with everybody.”
The Aggies will have perhaps their most difficult challenge of the year Wednesday when they host No. 2 Oregon at 4:30 p.m. Lanphear said her experience should help guide the team this season and through challenges like this.
“Coming from high school softball, we were all typically leaders on our high school teams,” Lanphear said. “We were the above-average players on our high school teams, so we’ve all had experience of [leadership] in high school. Now, it’s just your time to shine. Experience helps tremendously when you’re playing in these big games. This year, we have a ton of underclassmen that we have to help along. Playing [softball] is the same and we’ve done that forever, but having that experience to pass on helps a lot when you’re in those big games.”