Katie Rhoe’s softball career at Sacramento State is certainly worthy of a Hollywood script ?” that is, if that movie didn’t already exist.

“Katie has become our ‘Rudy’ ?” straight out of the movie,” Hornets coach Kathy Strahan said. “I’ve never seen anyone work harder and I don’t think it’s physically possible for a player to do more.”She’s worked her way into every one of our hearts.”

Rhoe, a junior outfielder from Concord in the East Bay Area, was elected a team co-captain ?” along with sophomore Hilary Johnson and senior Lindy Winkler ?” by both her teammates and coaches prior to the season, despite joining the Hornets as an unrecruited walk-on two years ago and seeing limited playing time since.

It was Rhoe, who has become the team’s emotional leader, who spoke up with the most poignant words in a team meeting on Thursday following the Hornets’ 0-2 start to the regular season.Rhoe didn’t play in either game, but stood up and appealed to the team with the heart and reason that coaches say have defined her in two-plus years on the team. She pointed out that the team left five players back in Sacramento during their trip to San Diego, and that all five would want to play; so it shouldn’t be hard for the starters to find motivation.

“I told everyone that it’s a privilege to wear this uniform,” Rhoe said. “I’ve been left behind on trips before and it’s devastating.

“You’d give anything to be able to go, to be able to play.”

Prior to the beginning of the 2006 season, Rhoe had logged three at-bats and no starts in 33 appearances, primarily as a pinch runner. Despite the lack of playing time, she is widely regarded as the hardest worker on the team.

That hard-charging attitude was on display at a recent intrasquad scrimmage. Rhoe was hit on the foot by a Michele Bochenski pitch and had to be pinch-ran for. She calmly walked back to the dugout, knowing the coaches wouldn’t take any chances by letting her run on the foot until it was checked by a trainer.

After the final out of the inning was made just a batter later, Rhoe slyly jogged out of the dugout ?” but with a noticeable limp ?” and nearly made it to right field before assistant coach Lori Meixner spotted her and instructed her to go back and rest.

“It’s great that she works so hard even though she doesn’t get on the field that much,” Winkler said. “That’s what makes her the leader she is.”

Rhoe was a three-sport star at Concord High School, playing four years of varsity volleyball and basketball and three years of varsity softball. During her junior and senior years she captained one or all of those teams and was named Concord High’s athlete of the year as a senior.

Unrecruited in all three sports, Rhoe ?” a criminal justice major ?” chose Sac State for proximity and, of course as she puts it, the weather. The summer before her freshman year of college was the first time Rhoe wasn’t involved in a team sport since she was 8 years old.

She very much felt a void.

“I knew I had to play a sport,” Rhoe said. “Going from three sports for four years of high school to nothing ?” there was no way.”

So the plucky, determined freshman marched right to Strahan’s office and asked what she needed to do to even get a chance to wear a Hornets green and gold uniform. Rhoe said she went to the team tryout and was allowed to workout with the team for about a week more before Strahan offered her a walk-on roster spot ?” no money for school, no housing nor books and no travel.”It was so intimidating going from being one of the best players ?” a player the coach looks to for leadership to a team where I wasn’t the best,” Rhoe said of the adjustment from high school to college.

Rhoe got into six games as a freshman ?” one at-bat and six pinch-running appearances ?” and scored three runs, all at home. As a sophomore last season Rhoe appeared in 24 games, stole two bases in three attempts, scored three runs and got the first and only hit of her career.But as many of her teammates and the coaching staff say, it’s contributions on the practice field and in the dugout that define her leadership.

“She’s truly an unsung hero for us,” Strahan said.

So during those long, sunny doubleheaders, Rhoe’s distinct voice is heard above all dugout chatter, leading cheers tailored to each batter or lending encouragement to the team when it’s in the field even though she’s not out there.

“She’s happy to be in the dugout, screaming her heart out for us,” Johnson said. “It’s like she’s right there in the field with us.”

John Parker can be reached at [email protected]