Freshman student-athletes have a lot of expectations put on them ?” from coaches, from teammates and from themselves. Living up to those expectations is one thing; exceeding them, now that’s something else.

Junior softball player Amy Jo McKenzie faced those expectations when she was a freshman during the 2004 season. McKenzie prepped locally at Center High in Antelope and remembers the pressure of coming in and trying to prove herself under that magnifying glass.

“I was intimidated,” McKenzie said. “It’s hard when you have all those expectations to meet – you have to prove yourself.

“But I’ve grown and now I’m more confident.”

McKenzie’s career at Sacramento State has been one of peaks and valleys. From impact freshman to sporadic playing time as a sophomore then a knee injury and now to team leader and the second-best batting average on the team at .321.

Before she even got to Sac State her collegiate career was masked in uncertainty. While many high school softball players are recruited and know where they’ll be during their senior seasons, McKenzie said her offers fell off the table after she had surgery on her left knee in the summer between her junior and senior years.

The plan was to go to Sierra College in Rocklin to re-establish herself, that is, until a pair of Sac State assistant coaches saw her play summer ball in mid-2003. Amanda Garceau and Jennifer Fritz were both impressed by what they saw, and McKenzie went from unsigned to touted recruit almost over night.

“It all happened really fast,” McKenzie said.

She may have set the bar herself with her performance in her freshman season, though. She hit safely in seven of the first 13 games of that season.

In just her second game at Shea Stadium she homered off of UC Davis pitcher Lindsay Tognetti to help the Hornets to a win over their causeway rivals. Davis hasn’t beaten Sac State since. She followed that performance up with a base-clearing double in extra innings at San Jose State two weeks later in another game winning hit. Despite those performances, McKenzie faded down the stretch and eventually hit just .179.

“I didn’t have enough confidence,” McKenzie said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to get it done and didn’t take it the right way.”

Last year the average dropped to .154 as she played sparingly before injuring her right knee pulling up at second bases after a double against San Diego on April 10. She underwent knee surgery ?” for the second time in three years as she had her left knee surgically repaired in high school ?” to repair her right ACL and meniscus at the end of May of last year. She was unable to work out that whole summer, let alone take hacks in a batting cage or field ground balls.”In that time Amy did a lot of soul-searching,” said Sac State assistant coach Lori Meixner, who coached McKenzie in her senior year at Center. “She got herself mentally and physically where she needed to be.”

McKenzie said that those five months of intense physical therapy strengthened her resolve to come back and regain her freshman form.

“It sucked – not being on the field with everyone else,” McKenzie said. “I felt so alone, by myself. “It was good motivation to get back out there faster.”

McKenzie credits a healthier diet ?” loaded with fruits and vegetables rather than fat and cholesterol ?” to coming back in better shape and playing better.

“She blew me away with the condition she came back in,” Hornets coach Kathy Strahan said. “She wants to be on the field and it shows.”

John Parker can be reached at [email protected]