From the time she took to the baseball or softball diamond, the Bates College senior has been on the move. She’d play one position and then another. Whether it was baseball or softball, she’d often have three different positions as part of her resume.

So it is no real surprise that Lewis is on the move again in her final year with the Bobcats. After playing at third the last two seasons, Lewis is moving back to shortstop, where she played as a freshman.

“We need that leadership in the middle,” said Bates coach Gwen Lexow, who has just two other seniors on the roster. “It’s been fun to watch her go back to her maybe more natural position and take charge of the infield for us. It means that everything that happens often goes through her.”

The move came as no real surprise to Lewis, a Gardiner native. She grew up pitching, playing first and right field as a young baseball player. Then at age 13, she took up softball and played short, third and catcher. She was a standout shortstop at St. Dom’s in high school.

“It’s been a little bit of an adjustment, just getting used to being back at short again,” said Lewis, who learned of the change just prior to the start of the season. “It’s not unfamiliar. So it was pretty easy to pick it back up again.”

Lauren Dobish played the position the last two years. She and Lewis often worked together. Lewis was still able to bring her knowledge of shortstop to the game and even filled in on occasion.

“It was always kind of in the back of my mind,” Lewis said of a likely return to short. “So the transition wasn’t too bad, and it wasn’t like a shock at all.”

The biggest adjustment for her has been getting accustomed to the range of the position and  helping with the positioning of those around her.

“It’s the same side of the field, and it’s similar but there’s enough of a difference that the communication is pretty key,” Lewis said.

The biggest transition for Lewis just might be the leadership that comes with the position. Though she’s always been a leader by example, a young Bobcat team relies on Lewis to guide them a little more this year.

“You can get her going, but she’s kind of quiet,” said Lexow, who often had to encourage Lewis to be more vocal when she played the position as a freshman. “You can’t have that in the critical positions especially when we’re particularly young and inexperienced. That leadership is even more important this year, and so far, she’s done a good job of that.”

Through eight games, Bates has gone 4-4. Lewis is hitting .400 with a .417 on-base percentage and a .903 fielding percentage. She leads the team in runs (11), hits (12), total bases (12), steals (7) and assists (16).

“In her previous three seasons, she’s proven that she understands the game, she can make these adjustments on the fly, she remembers hitters and does all the things you want in that leadership,” Lexow said.

Lewis has been a steady contributor since she began at Bates. She started all 88 games during her first three seasons. She led the team in hitting with a .423 average as a freshman and hit .309 and .308 the last two springs respectively.

“It’s actually hard to be as consistent as she’s been,” said Lexow. “When you look at some sophomore and juniors, when the opponents have the book, that’s when you really see if they can keep those numbers. If so, that makes it even more impressive. Opponents know how to pitch them and usually a player has to learn to make adjustments to cover your weaknesses. You’ll see numbers actually decline over the course of four years.”

That’s one thing Lexow could see from the start when Lewis came to Bates. She had followed her during her high-school career with the Saints and was pleased when Lewis made a quick transition to the college game.

“It’s been a steady growth,” said Lexow. “She’s one of those really special kids that takes every opportunity to learn. We knew very early on that she had the potential to be very strong because she was going to absorb everything we tried to teach her. That’s what she’s done.”

Lewis said it took some adjustment to the pace of playing at the college level, especially having back-to-back concussions her first year. Having played field hockey in the fall as a freshman helped her adapt to juggling college life and athletics. She likes the intense pace of college softball and has tried to keep her mental game maturing to meet every challenge.

“Our goal is to get one percent better every day,” said Lewis, who hopes to go to graduate school next year to study either chemical engineering or mathematics. “If you get one percent better than you were the day before, you’re going to get exponentially better. But the mental game, it definitely helped to be able to be like, ‘I made a bad play. I’m going to come back and get the next one,’ and be one that wants to get the next one. Coach has definitely helped me with that every year.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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