Junior Sydney Reath is known for her leadership abilities and consistency on EMU’s softball team.

In a 9-1 win over Chatham, Sydney batted 4-for-4 with three doubles, driving in four runs and scoring two of her own. She had the walk-off RBI single in last Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Sage College. On the season, Sydney is tied for second in the ODAC with seven doubles and tied for the team lead with 13 RBIs.

As a pitcher, she appeared in four games during the team’s spring break trip and earned the win in each, finishing 4-0 with a 0.60 ERA.

With no seniors on this year’s softball team, Reath is one of two captains as a junior. The role adds a new kind of challenge for the pitcher/infielder and she tackles the role by setting a good example on and off the field for her teammates.

“Being a captain has challenged me by making me step out of my comfort zone,” she explained. “Leading by example is what I’ve been trying to do all season and just be supportive of everyone and be there for them when they need me.”

Over spring break, Reath and the team played 10 games in Myrtle Beach. Her consistency in each game helped the Royals win all 10 games.

“We were successful in these games because we played as a team,” Reath said. “If someone was having a bad game, someone else stepped up and came through for the team. We had a couple of close games, but we came together as a team and pulled out some close wins.”

For Reath, the trip to Myrtle Beach was also a valuable experience as it helped the team to bond together.

“The beach trip really brought us all together,” she said. “We had a few emotional nights and after that we couldn’t stop talking about how much we were a family. I love each of these girls and this was the best trip so far in my three years.”

Coach J.D. McCurdy has been impressed with Reath’s performance in recent games.

“Sydney’s ability to spot her pitches and change speeds makes her extremely effective against any D-III team,” he said. “Another quality is she is ‘ice cold’ in the circle; if you came to see her pitch you would not know if she was up five runs or down five runs! She has always bought in to the ‘team concept’ and our team feeds off her.”

Looking towards the rest of the season, Reath thinks that there is always room to improve, and has been focusing on her hitting this season.

“I was upset about my performance the weekend before in North Carolina and so the week leading up to the beach trip I focused on my hitting and tried to find it,” Reath explained. “I still didn’t perform as well as I wanted to, but my teammates were always there to pick me up when I slacked in an at-bat or with a pitch.”

For the rest of the season, Reath is setting a goal to win the ODAC Tournament and make it to the NCAA Tournament. She believes that this is possible because of the quality of players on her team.

Reath said, “This is the closest team I have been a part of since I’ve been here and I’m excited to see what is in store for us the rest of the season.”