SAN ANTONIO – The moment Lindsey Davis made peace with the fact that she might never play again was the start of her evolution into a leader on the UTSA Softball team.
Davis, a native of Monticello, Fla., a town of 2,700 residents located 30 miles east of Tallahassee, had experienced a great fall last season and was excited for the 2024 campaign under first-year head coach Vann Stuedeman.
But a brief mix-up with her academic record prevented Davis from making the trip to Houston for the Houston Classic last February. She didn’t handle the news well and made sure everyone around her was aware of her displeasure.
“A grade of mine hadn’t been entered, so my overall grade was super low,” Davis said. “For the next couple of days, I very much showed how upset I was about that. I outwardly expressed how upset that I was. It was so immature.”
It proved to be a weekend of reflection for the outfielder that translated into a mindset shift that has set her up for success both on and off the softball field.
“There was a little snafoo last year,” Stuedeman said. “I’m the new coach, I did something she didn’t approve of and we met about it. After a time of reflection, she came in and said some of the most mature things I’ve heard from a 21-year-old in a long time. Her growth in the past year-and-a-half that I’ve known her, I’ve just been really impressed by this young lady.”
Watching UTSA’s games that weekend from afar, Davis had a revelation that has impacted both the kind of player and teammate she has been since.
“One of the announcers said something about how everybody that traveled got to see the field,” Davis said. “I’m sitting there thinking, who would I look in the eyes and take that opportunity away from them? That all hit me like a truck. I realized in that moment how selfish I was being. I asked myself, ‘What am I really doing this for? Is that really the kind of player that I want to be?’ I was done being that person.
“I made my mind up that if I don’t get another opportunity for the rest of my career that I will be okay with that,” Davis continued. “Because it’s not about me. If our team is winning and I’m pushing people to be better, and that means I don’t get another shot, it wasn’t meant to be. I thought of the worst thing that could happen and, for me, that was never seeing the field again. I imagined what that felt like and decided I would stay anyway.”
* * * * *
Making the diamond her home came naturally to Davis. Her parents Thornton and Cassie had played collegiately at Chipola Junior College, long known as a powerhouse at the community college level. Her dad went on to play baseball at Florida A&M University and her uncle, Tim, had played Major League Baseball for the Seattle Mariners.
“My parents ended up meeting at Chipola and they both kind of edged me into softball as an after-school activity and something to stay busy,” Davis said. “I did other sports too – you name it and I’ve tried to do it. I think softball is where I had the best foundation because that’s what both of my parents knew, so they were able to coach me really well. Especially from a really young age, I had a very solid foundation, so that’s what I decided to stick with.”
Excelling at high-level softball was just a norm for Davis. Her cousin is Elizabeth Hightower, a former All-American pitcher for the University of Florida’s highly successful softball program. They grew up together and Davis learned an extreme work-ethic from her cousin.
“She wanted it bad and it showed,” Davis said. “We lived in such a small town, we had to drive 45 minutes to go to the gym and work out. And then we’d drive back and she’d run her whole driveway back to her house. I couldn’t even drive yet and she’d tell me to drive her car behind her so she could run back to her house. We had just gone through an entire two-hour CrossFit session and she’s running back to her house. And then she would go and pitch. That’s the level of intensity she was used to.”
Between her friends and family, Davis was surrounded by future NCAA Division I softball players. That experience established her own expectations for what she could accomplish.
“There was a big softball bubble there,” Davis said. “That was a very normal thing for girls that age to be looking extremely competitively into softball. I didn’t really know anything else; I just thought that was normal.”
Attending Aucilla Christian Academy in middle school, along with Hightower, Davis quickly established herself as a top player at a very early age.
“Our middle school and high school were on the same campus,” she said. “I played softball for the middle school team and, towards the end of my seventh-grade year, the varsity coach had recognized me and decided to pull me up. I got pulled up to varsity and they went to state and won state. That was the second-ever state title that the school had won. The first one was the year before on the same team. That was my first taste of victory and I thought, this is so do-able.”
By her eighth-grade year, Davis was a major contributor on the varsity squad as her team’s leadoff hitter. In the state championship game that season against Academy At The Lakes, she would face pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl, a former collegiate player at both Alabama and Oklahoma State who earned consensus First-Team All-America honors and was the No. 1 pick in the inaugural AUSL Draft. That moment would greatly impact her confidence for the future.
“Thinking back, there was absolutely no fear in my head,” Davis said. “I was in eighth grade facing this girl who was a senior. She was committed to Alabama and had probably the best drop ball in the country. And I was like, ‘I’m going to get her.’ So, I got up there and I was just hacking. One at-bat, I got a full swinging bunt two feet from home plate, I made it to first base and that was such a highlight. The best part was not knowing how hard it was. Looking back, I think, ‘If I can do that, then what can I not do?’ That’s kind of where the grit came from.”
Davis was a standout high school player and also played travel ball for both the Clearwater Bullets and Southern Power. Davis, who also was on her high school’s weightlifting team and placed third at the state championship in 2020, was getting college looks from schools at the NAIA and junior college level, but hadn’t received an NCAA Division I softball offer. That is, until UTSA reached out.
“UTSA was actually my first DI offer and I was so excited that I literally took it on the spot,” Davis said.
* * * * *
There’s seemingly no challenge that Davis doesn’t view as an opportunity. She is a computer engineering major in UTSA’s Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
It’s not a path she could have initially expected, especially given the challenges she once experienced with mathematics. Like everything in her life, Davis would not be deterred.
“In high school, I actually was really bad at math,” Davis said. “But the frame of normal was that if you were cool, you took advanced math. So, I was like, ‘I have to try to get into advanced match because all my friends were in advanced math.’ I would go home and study way more than the average 15-year-old or 16-year-old would. And I made it happen. It was an aha moment of ‘I can do this too.’”
Davis initially aspired to work in the medical field, considering a career as a dermatologist. That was until she was introduced to her future teammate Riley Grunberg, who played in every game of her collegiate career and would become a 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.
“At the time, Riley was a junior,” Davis said. “She was a mechanical engineering major and she had a 4.0. I don’t know anybody personally who is doing just engineering and has a 4.0, and she’s playing softball. That was an insane thing. I thought, ‘That’s possible?’ So, I talked to her and I also wanted to go into engineering. It’s a four-year degree, it’s in the top one percent of earning potential straight out of college. On paper, it’s a very, very solid choice and I’m a very logical person.”
Davis started down the path of becoming a civil engineer, but realized it wasn’t the right fit for her personality, so she switched to computer engineering.
“I really enjoy variety and a dynamic type of engagement style, so I decided to find a different discipline of engineering,” she said. “I actually picked the most diverse and broad scope of engineering and decided to go with computer engineering.”
While her degree program has included training in hardware, software and electricity, she is most interested in a career in software engineering when her softball career comes to a close.
“I really enjoy the design side of things – the aesthetics, the user interface and the user experience,” Davis said. “I would also be open to being more of a point of contact for the client, whether that be in sales or as a service rep. I like connecting with people, so I think that would also benefit me as well as benefit a company.”
Her coach believes Davis’ chosen field is the perfect fit to complement her many impressive characteristics and talents.
“Lindsey has that MacGuyver quality,” said Stuedeman, alluding to the 1980s television series. “She is willing to fix anything and can fix anything. She is a very smart young lady. Lindsey is going to be successful in whatever it is she chooses to do in life because she’s going to make that choice.”
* * * * *
The adjustment to UTSA didn’t come easy for Davis.
She was used to playing at the highest level and the Roadrunners program was experiencing some struggles at the time. In Davis’ first two years combined, UTSA won just 26 games, including only eight victories her sophomore season of 2023.
“I was used to a level of intensity and my first two years were definitely a shift because they were very laid back compared to that,” Davis said. “It was a bit confusing because that’s what I thought was normal and that was my only frame of reference.”
Davis found herself unable to adjust to the less-intense culture within the UTSA program when she first arrived. Because she couldn’t overcome that hurdle, it affected every aspect of her performance.
“I was a victim of whatever day I was going to have,” Davis said. “I really wasn’t able to build a lot those two years. I was really coming from a deficit. I was a victim of circumstances with who the coaches decided to play or I would get frustrated and let that affect me. I would get in, but I couldn’t perform because my mind wasn’t clear. It didn’t matter how much I went in and worked extra, I wasn’t in the headspace to perform because of that mindset.”
When on June 22, 2023, Stuedeman was hired to lead the Roadrunners, things began to slowly change for Davis. They shared a similar mindset. Stuedeman was the former highly successful head coach at Mississippi State who had previously been a longtime assistant and pitching coach for Alabama’s elite program.
“Under Vann, I can really start to see us poking through,” Davis said. “I can totally see how hard it is to redefine normal. And I was lucky enough to never really have to change that normal. I know what it’s like. If you get it, you get it. And I got it from a very early age.”
As she entered the fall of her junior season in 2023, things began to feel right to Davis. Her new coaching staff had the same expectations that she had for herself.
“I was having these eureka moments; it happened in such a cinematic way,” Davis said. “I was like, wait, I’ve seen this before. It’s what I was used to with my cousin.”
The opportunity to be part of changing the trajectory of the UTSA program has been particularly meaningful to Davis.
“I think it’s indescribable,” she said. “It’s such a rewarding experience to really be able to see how I can influence the team and the culture and the collective in a positive way. It’s more than a stat and more than a record. I could care less about my name being on a plaque somewhere or a trophy that’s going to collect dust. I want to be part of a living, breathing change that’s happening. I can see it happening and I can feel it happening. And it’s only been a year.”
* * * * *
It took time before Davis found her way into the lineup following the transformation she underwent during her weekend away from the field at the start of the 2024 season.
“I had a lot of time to just put my nose to the grindstone,” she said. “I know I can’t control who goes in the game, but I can make it hard. That’s what I did – I made it a hard decision. I got to work every day. Every gameday, every pre-game rep was practice for me. It was work.”
In mid-April of 2024, Davis drew a start in center field in the Saturday game of an American Athletic Conference series against Charlotte. In the series finale, on Alumni Day, she had a breakthrough game, finishing with three hits and two home runs.
“The first pitch of that first at-bat was probably one of the hardest balls I’ve ever hit in my life,” Davis said. “And I sobbed. It was my first career home run and, to put it into perspective, I hit like 16 home runs combined in my freshman, sophomore and junior years of high school. Before COVID hit my junior year of high school, I had already hit like four home runs. That’s how big of a disparity I was in. We’re not allowed to leave the dugout before the person who hit the home run crosses home plate, but I had a couple of my teammates who have been with me throughout the whole ride sneak out of the dugout, which says a lot about how important that moment was, not just for me, but for the people who knew about it.”
She finished the day 3-for-3 with a bunt single and another home run in her next two plate appearances.
“I dropped a drag bunt – a sneaky bunt – because I’d been working on that too,” Davis said. “And there’s video of me skirting around it because it was perfectly placed right there on the line. The person who was fielding it picked it up and threw it into right field and I was going nuts. My third at-bat, it was a great pitch, it was not even all the way on the plate and I just … boom. I don’t know if I had to sit another game after that.”
Davis finished with 44 at-bats last year – a season in which the Roadrunners doubled their win total from the previous campaign. She had 11 hits and drove in six runs, also stealing four bases.
Stuedeman knows that if the Roadrunners are to meet their goals in 2025 – a season in which UTSA has already recorded the best start to a year (5-0) in program history – that Davis will be a major contributor.
“She wants the best for the team and she wants the best for her teammates,” Stuedeman said. “She’s got the right mindset, she’s willing to work and she’s willing to do things for others. She’ll be a key part to the success of the team this year.”
* * * * *
There are two main traits that are at the core of everything that Davis has done throughout her life.
“If I could have two words tattooed on my forehead and it not have societal repercussions, they would be grit and wisdom,” Davis said. “You can’t have one without the other and I think they go hand in hand when you’re trying to be efficient. I feel like if you have grit without wisdom, you’re just going to get burnt out. And if you have wisdom without grit, you’re going to sit back on your heels and let life happen to you.”
She thinks back often to the weekend she didn’t travel with her team in February 2024. While it was a difficult experience, Davis knows she might not be the person or player that she is today without that adversity. It reminds her of the way she approached becoming one of the top weightlifters in the state as a high school student. It has defined her collegiate career and how she moves forward on a daily basis.
“I would say, ‘Either I’m going to go or the weight’s going to go,’” Davis said. “It’s just a matter of digging my heels in. When I hit a deadlift, the hardest part is getting it off the ground. Once you get it moving, you’re good. You can bring it. I might win, I might not, but I’m not giving up. I’m not leaving and I’m not going anywhere.”