ERIE, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Instead of crouching behind the plate, Cami McNany finds herself these days at Penn State Behrend sitting on a bucket.
She’s still calling pitches. The view is just different.
(Pictured above, A-C Valley graduate and Penn State Behrend senior Cami McNany was named the Behrend Female Athlete of the Year recently)
A painful hip injury has relegated McNany, an A-C Valley graduate and senior on the Lions’ softball team, to a perch just outside the dugout while her team is on defense.
McNany is still hitting as the designated player, but has been limited by the hip issue that flared up toward the end of her stellar junior campaign last year and has continued to linger.
“It’s affected me a lot,” McNany said. “I’ve kind of moved away from a catching role for this team, which is something that I never really done before. I know a lot of people say they miss me on the defensive side of things, keeping everyone together out there. Umpires have asked, ‘Are you catching the second game?’ I tell them, ‘No. I’m not behind the dish today.’ But we’re working through it. I’ve changed my swing a little bit. We’re going through that. We’re trying to figure it out. We’re at peaks and valleys right now. I’ll say that.”
The rough spring was made a little easier to stomach recently when McNany received the Penn State Behrend Female Athlete of the Year Award.
She had no idea she was set to receive that high honor; her Behrend coaches tried to keep it on the down-low.
But McNany is observant — a trait that comes in handy while calling pitches. She was able to figure it out at the banquet before the award was announced.
“It was kind of funny because my head coach and my assistant sent me an email that I won an award,” McNany said. “I asked them, ‘What award?’ They said, ‘You’ll see.’ I kind of knew after awhile.”
McNany hit .388 with two home runs, 11 doubles and 42 RBIs last season for Behrend while also playing stellar defense behind the plate.
The award, though, goes beyond just raw numbers in the field. It also rewards work off of it.
“I was excited,” said McNany, an A-C Valley graduate. “It was really the leadership that got it for me.”
McNany, who was also named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Softball Player of the Year last season, has continued to show that leadership this year.
While she has been extremely limited in playing catcher, she is still working with the pitching staff, while also mentoring a pair of freshmen behind the plate.
“This freshman class that we have, they have a lot of respect for me,” McNany said. “They look up to me and I’ve had parents tell me how great I’ve been with these catchers. I’ll stay around with the pitchers and the catchers, even when our main practice is done.”
McNany is trying to do anything she can to help the team while she deals with her balky right hip.
The wear and tear on her has been extreme over the years, often catching both ends of doubleheaders.
It caught up to her.
She really noticed it this preseason. The team’s trip to Florida highlighted her physical struggles.
McNany is hitting .286 with two homers and 15 RBIs in 22 games this season. But she has only one double and is slugging just .397.
“No excuses. I should still be producing for my team,” McNany said. “I’ve probably been going through it for awhile. I will tell you my sophomore season took a real toll on me, catching both games. Last year was OK. But this preseason was probably the worst preseason I’ve ever had. I’ve been to doctors and we’re working with trainers to help me get through it. Florida was really rough for me. Every day we’re working to build strength in there and hoping it will get better.”
It’s certainly not how McNany envisioned her final season on the softball diamond unfolding.
But McNany is certainly making the most of it.
She’s become an extension of the coaching staff. Her insight has been welcomed, especially with handling the pitchers and catchers.
It’s something that has kindled some coaching aspirations for McNany.
Some day.
Her biggest strength is her ability to dissect an opponent’s swing to help find ways to exploit it.
It’s sometimes more art than science.
“I stare batters down and I watch their swing,” McNany said. “See how their front shoulder goes through. Are they going to stay through it? And they going to pull out on an outside pitch? Are they timing right off her hip? How are they going to react to a changeup or the outside pitch when they are standing in the box. Stuff like that.
“I probably play 20 questions with these catchers a lot,” McNany added. “And we kind of develop signals here with our pitching coach about how their shoulders are reacting. You can see so much more behind the player than from the dugout.”
McNany, though, is just as excited in the dugout over a strikeout than she was while crouching behind the plate.
“When he get a strikeout, I’m halfway on the field jumping off the bucket before they even get off the field,” McNany said. “It’s funny. I mean, I’m still bringing the excitement off the bucket. They love it.”
McNany is hoping to see more improvement in her hip soon. She wants to get back to the form that made her one of the most feared hitters in the conference the last two seasons.
“I do my weight training with our trainer,” McNany said. “We’re trying to focus more on the hips and hamstrings to get everything stronger in there. Obviously, my production hasn’t been there. When I was catching, I was pretty much done for the second game, so we got to where it was pretty much best for me to move out of the catching role and into the DP role so I can play both games and try to do something for the team with my bat.
“It’s tough, for sure,” she added. “Like going to practice and not being able to do a whole lot. It gets hard when you want to hit and perform but I’m going only 50% compared to everyone else. I mean, my whole career I’ve never had an injury that’s kind of put me in this position.”
McNany hasn’t been alone.
She’s received plenty of support from the Behrend coaches and her teammates.
“I’ve had people in my corner the whole way,” McNany said. “My support system is unbelievable. It’s been an adjustment, but nothing I can’t handle or deal with, especially with the support system I have, which I am very grateful for.”
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