March 30, 2018
By Brian McLaughlin, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Although Emily Hudgins, a freshman infielder for Penn State from Wadsworth, Illinois has yet to make an appearance for the Blue and White due to injury, the decision to attend Penn State was simple- with everything adding up to the perfect place for her college experience.
"The academics, you can't really get much better than this, the facilities are amazing, the coaches are great, everything is just great," Hudgins said.
Hudgins is a secondary education major at University Park, having been impacted greatly by a psychology teacher in high school. She hopes one day to have a similar impact on students as a teacher herself.
Since arriving on campus, Hudgins has proven herself to her teammates off the field by taking care of the little things in practice making an impact on everyone in the program.
"Emily is phenomenal. Just an awesome teammate and awesome person. Unfortunately, she's been out for the year due to an injury which has been kind of devastating for our team. I applaud her on how she's handled it mentally, how she's been engaged," head coach Amanda Lehotak said. "There's very few things she can do right now, but those few things she can do, she never takes a rep off and is always asking to work on the little things."
Every summer when the Penn State freshmen arrive on campus, it is the job of the upperclassmen to take the freshmen in and bond into a team. The groups always form differently, and some players connect closely with certain teammates.
"The kids do a really great job and really kind of match up with the freshmen and they can ask an upperclassmen like Delaney and ask how to get to a class and the really help guide them. It's a pretty major adjustment period so they really help throughout that," Lehotak said.
Hudgins provides further praise of the upperclassmen, adding that they have been instrumental in making the transition to college so easy.
"The upperclassmen have been great coming in. They were all super welcoming and told us exactly what we need to do and answering questions before we even had then," Hudgins said.
It is hard to watch games being out with an injury, but Hudgins believes she brings a lot of work ethic to the club, something she sees in many of the upperclassmen.
"Tori Dubois (Is someone I look up to). She works really hard every day and is a fierce competitor," Hudgins said.
Other players see the work ethic from Hudgins but also see an extreme attention to detail especially every day during practice.
"When we are at practice the coaches watch the big picture and see how everything is going, but if you had something little you are working on and want someone to watch for it Emily is the person to ask," sophomore Delaney Elling said. "For example, working on leads and leaving early she is the person to ask to watch that. Emily is like the coach from a player standpoint, she is the player-coach of the team."
Coach Lehotak sees similar strengths for Hudgins and appreciates all she does for the team in practice. When many players can lose focus on the team when injured Hudgins has thrown herself even farther into it.
"She is a great teammate and observes the game. Emily is a rare athlete where she loves the game so much she will do anything to be a part of it and just a great kid," Lehotak said.
After splitting a doubleheader on Wednesday with Robert Morris, Penn State will head to Rutgers for its first road Big Ten matchup of the season. The team hopes to translate some of their recent home success to the road, having struggled away from Beard field so far this year.
"This time of year it's kind of easy to prepare for compared to going into a tournament with five different teams. My staff and I have been watching film, and we play Rutgers every year relatively well," Lehotak said. "For us it's still going to be about Penn State, where we have to make sure we don't beat ourselves which I feel like has been the thorn in our sides. If we can take care of business do what we do well, we feel positive going into this weekend."