- May 4, 2024
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Sydney McCray was built for greatness.
It is a refrain she has heard from her family since she began playing softball. Her father, Rodney McCray, was a professional baseball player best known for running through an outfield wall to make a catch while with the Chicago White Sox organization.
Sydney McCray said he has instilled that same sense of toughness and determination in his kids. Her brother, Grant McCray, is an outfielder in the San Francisco Giants organization and is ranked as the team's No. 5 prospect (No. 2 outfielder) by MLB.com.
After winning two state championships with Lakewood Ranch High under former Head Coach T.J. Goelz, McCray headed in 2023 to Florida SouthWestern State College, a top-tier junior college program. Other members of the title-winning Mustang teams landed at NCAA Division I programs, but McCray was not bothered by her destination, despite putting up equal or better numbers than many of her high school teammates. As a senior, she hit .438 with three doubles, three triples, two home runs and 18 RBIs while adding 14 steals and playing stellar defense in centerfield.
"I'm excited to play softball wherever," McCray said. "I'm playing at the next level. Not a lot of girls can say that. So, regardless (of school), I come in with the attitude of, 'I'm going to make this an experience.'"
When McCray finishes her two-year degree in 2024, she will have lots of DI suitors. McCray and FSW won the National Junior College Athletic Association National Championship on May 27, defeating Northwest Florida State 10-6. It was the program's third-straight title. Along the way, McCray earned big-time personal honors as she was named to the NJCAA All-American second team on June 6 for hitting .410 with eight doubles, six triples, two home runs and 44 RBIs while adding 26 steals.
On June 12, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced that McCray had been awarded a Rawlings Gold Glove for her centerfield defense. She made a single error in 2023 as she won the first Gold Glove in FSW history.
McCray is not surprised that she has dominated.
"My dad always tells me that I'm the best player on the field," McCray said. "So I don't care what anyone else says. That thought of 'You are the best' never leaves my mind. For me, and my brother, too, this is what we do. This is natural."
However, the Gold Glove did mean a lot to her. She was not made aware of winning the award before the official announcement. She was scrolling through social media when she saw the announcement and decided to watch it, not realizing she was a contender.
McCray said she shed a tear when she saw her photo pop up. Defensive effort is what her family is known for, she said, and she will go to father and her brother for advice when she needs it. Grant McCray's advice tends to be more focused on the mental side of defense, while her father will point out physical changes she can make. She's proud to carry on the tradition the two of them have set.
"The king of the grass, the queen of the grass, that's our thing," McCray said. "We go get the ball."
McCray's attitude helped her adjust to the college game, but so did her high school career. Goelz, McCray said, transformed not only her physical skills, but the way she viewed practice as a tool.
"He taught us to practice faster than we play, so games will slow down for us," McCray said. "And he engraved the sport's fundamentals into our bodies. Everything became muscle memory."
She brought those skills to Florida SouthWest, where she said she not only found instant success, but instant friends. Everyone at FSW is playing there to prove what they can do. As a result, the school gets a slew of international players.
McCray said getting to know her teammates was a rewarding experience, as everyone has a unique story, and one of her best friends on the team, Laura Vigna, played on Italy's Olympics softball team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, for instance.
McCray said a 5 a.m. conditioning test conducted during the team's fall season helped bring the team together, and everyone passed the test. They knew that if they could trust each other to do that, they could trust each other to do anything.
Wherever McCray goes after FSW, there's little doubt that she will find success at a higher level. I watched in 2021 as McCray, forced out of the Lakewood Ranch lineup by an ACL injury, took copious notes from the dugout every single game and shared them with her teammates postgame. I watched in 2022 as McCray, a speedster, returned from her ACL injury and worked her way back into form. She scored on a passed ball in her first game back, and only got better from there.
I have seen few athletes more determined to stick around the sport they love, and she's always improving. So if an All-American spot and a Gold Glove is what she earned as a freshman, her encore as a sophomore will be something special.
