The University of Indianapolis softball team continues to chase all sorts of history this spring, with the player crouched behind home plate enjoying the best possible view.
Sophomore catcher Lexy Rees can’t help but like what she sees. The Greyhounds sport a 31-2 record — including wins in all 20 Great Lakes Valley Conference games — and are ranked fifth in Division II.
Coach Melissa Frost’s squad takes a 24-game win streak into its Wednesday doubleheader at Ohio Dominican.
“What’s special about this team is every day we want to get better,” said Rees, a Greenwood graduate. “People on the outside don’t see that, but we all cheer each other on. You can’t wait to see the person next to you grow.
“Coach can put somebody in and you have full confidence in that person.”
This certainly applies to Rees, who usually bats fifth in the UIndy lineup and has responded with a .375 average, six doubles and five home runs. In weekend doubleheader sweeps of Rockhurst and Southwest Baptist, Rees produced three hits, including a three-run homer.
Due to the pandemic, the 2020 season screeched to a halt after the Greyhounds had played just 19 games. Rees played in nine games, starting six, and she started the current season mostly on the bench with zero at-bats in Uindy’s opening six contests.
By March 13, however, the switch had been flipped.
Rees, who started catching in T-ball largely because none of her young teammates wanted to wear the equipment, was inserted into the Greyhounds’ lineup and responded with two hits in 15-1 blowout of McKendree.
She’s been there ever since.
“The most stressful part is every (home plate) umpire is different, so it’s learning how I can move my body to get a strike called on a ball that might be out of the zone,” Rees said. “But I like catching because I can see everything on the field.
“It’s a very powerful position. Coach preaches the best nine hitters are going to be in the lineup, but I’m grateful to be part of UIndy softball whether I’m playing or not.”
UIndy softball has never experienced a sub-.500 season under Frost, who took over the program in 2005 and owns a record of 630-249-1. She’s been named GLVC coach of the year five times and led the 2009 and 2015 clubs to the Division II Women’s College World Series.
The current UIndy team, which includes five players from Johnson County — Rees, Center Grove alums Hanna Burris and Piper Belden, former Greenwood infielder Dominique Proctor and catcher Emma Rutan, a Franklin graduate — hopes to eventually break new ground with a national championship.
Rees has been an important part of that quest.
“We have a quality catching staff, and at that moment, Lexy really hadn’t pushed into that starting spot,” said Frost, referring to those first six games of the season. “The biggest thing with Lexy is she does a great job with our pitching staff and receives the ball very well.
“She doesn’t get rattled a lot, and does a lot of things as a catcher that you just can’t teach.”
