Having played the sport since she was 4, the prospect of a long softball season is nothing new for senior Tara Lycos.

However, the prospect of being the lone captain on a high school team consisting of mostly sophomores is.

“It’s a pretty stressful thought,” said Lycos. “Most other teams have several captains.”

Lycos is entering her fourth season as a varsity player. However, this is only her third playing.

During basketball practice her freshman year, Lycos took a fall that would permanently impact her athletic career. When she tried to stand up, she couldn’t.

MRI results she received weeks later would reveal she had completely torn her ACL. She soon had invasive surgery on her knee, which completely replaced her hamstring with the hamstring of a cadaver.

For her entire freshman softball season, she was kept to the bench, keeping score while participating in exhausting physical therapy every day.

Nearly six months later, she was able to play again, but it would never be the same.

“Playing softball, I would have trouble like hitting  and pivoting,” said Lycos.

Three years later, she is looking to lead a young team that placed third in the Fox Valley Conference last season before losing to Crystal Lake South in the first round of last year’s regional. She will always be more careful, but she won’t let it keep her from the game she has loved for 14 years.

Lycos began preparing for her role as leader of the team last summer, putting in countless hours of strength training at Lifetime Fitness in Algonquin while also running on her own.

“I want to be the best during drills,” said Lycos. “I need to set an example for the younger girls, and to do what I need to be the best.”

With fellow seniors Ashley Knutson and Lauren Wilson, along with junior Randi Peterson, Lycos wants to provide leadership for a strong sophomore core consisting of five returning starters.

Head coach Mark Petryniec and Lycos are quick to compliment the group’s work ethic, necessary for a team that practices for over two hours a day, six days a week.

Work ethic will not be enough for the team, though, according to Lycos.

“We will definitely be competitive based on our practices,” said Lycos. “But we also need to bond more as a team.”

Lycos’ plans for the sport look past high school and towards college. She plans to play as a walk-on at the University of Wisconsion-Whitewater next spring.

Despite a young roster, Petryniec is confident in his team and his lone captain.

“I really believe, based on what I see in practice, [that] we will be competitive in the conference,” said Petryniec.

If those dreams are to come true, Lycos will have to stay on top of her game both on and off the field.