The 2025 season tested the heart of Maryland softball. The Terps had to find a way to keep their energy up and fight through a brutal season, having won just three Big Ten games.
At the center of the team’s spark was first baseman Sydney Lewis. When the junior wasn’t batting in runs at the plate, Lewis was in the dugout, leading the cheering for her team. Lewis has always been the hype person throughout her career, noting she “can’t function” and “won’t play the same” if she’s not.
But it’s hard to have energy when your team is losing.
Coach Lauren Karn said she was waiting for the team that started the season on a high note “to show up” after the Terps picked up their 10th straight loss during an abysmal 20-day stretch from late March to mid-April.
That was a low point for Lewis, who felt she held the solo responsibility to bring her team out of it.
“My coaches tell me all the time that I am the person that people lean onto for my energy,” Lewis said. “When we lose like 10 Big Ten games in a row, it’s like, ‘Well, how on earth am I supposed to keep my energy up?’”
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Lewis rose to the challenge. While playing first base, Lewis often ran up to the pitcher’s circle, saying something encouraging to whoever was throwing that day.
Junior Bri Godfrey, who tossed the most innings for the Terps this season, appreciated the notes of “you got this” or “we have your back right here.”
Lewis’ influence grew. The whole team began to approach the circle with her after an out, tossing around the ball before high-fiving their pitcher in the circle and leaving words of their own.
“I tend to remind myself … being that energetic is what makes me happy about this game,” Lewis said. “If I don’t act like that, I’m not going to be the same, and I won’t have any fun.”
Karn said that mindset makes Lewis a good leader, and Karn wants the rest of her team to emulate it.
“She’s worked really hard to get herself to be in that space this year, and it’s paying off,” Karn said. “It’s just not bleeding into others on the team right now, and that’s, I think, part of our issue.”
That connectedness started to falter as the team faced more adversity and players got down on themselves individually. That’s where Lewis’ knowledge of her teammates came in handy.
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Lewis tailors her chants on the bench to whoever is up to bat and what they need in that moment, which isn’t always something serious. For veterans like graduate student Mazie MacFarlane, sometimes it’s just telling her that she looks “beautiful.”
“Mazie has been in this game a long time, she doesn’t need to hear, ‘hit the ball hard,’” Lewis said. “Mazie just wants to hear that she’s beautiful, so I’m like, ‘Of course, I’ll tell her that.’”
For underclassmen, it’s often words of advice that help them stay focused on their goal at the plate. That support from Lewis helped freshman Taylor Borovac and other teammates improve their confidence, which they struggled with early on.
Lewis often reminded Borovac to keep her game simple when she got up to the plate. Although Borvac said she didn’t need much, those pep talks reminded her that she was a good player and helped her play loose. And when things didn’t go her way, there were people to support her.
“Us having to rely on each other is one thing that definitely helped a little bit to just be like, ‘OK, things aren’t going our way right now, but we’re gonna push through this,’” Borovac said.
The Terps have a closer bond this season as friends, something that gave them confidence going into the season. Lewis hopes to continue to be a leader for Maryland, playing a big role in getting relationships off the field to transition into trust on the field for a young roster.
“It’s not like we have an issue of energy — it’s just consistently doing it in the mindset when we’re failing, and I think that’s where we’re trying to implement it,” Lewis said.
