By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
University of North Texas junior and Silver Lake graduate Lexi Cobb has thrived at the highest level of softball and credits her small-town Kansas roots for her successful collegiate career at the Division I level.
Before Cobb started her collegiate career she was a well-known, successful volleyball and softball player in Eagle Country.
Lexi Cobb
Cobb was a three-time first-team All-State and All-Mid-East League honoree in softball and helped lead Silver Lake to a softball state championship and a runnerup finish.
Between volleyball and softball, Cobb and her class helped build a legacy with three combined state championships before she moved to Denton, Texas, to pursue a softball career.
In Cobb's first three years at North Texas, Cobb has played 140 games while starting 117.
She has a career batting average of .317, with 116 hits, 26 doubles, nine home runs and 43 runs batted in.
"My time at North Texas has been really great," Cobb said. "I've loved every minute of my time at North Texas. I've grown so much as a player and as a person. It's just been an amazing time for me."
Cobb has immense pride from being raised in Silver Lake. With Cobb having her fair share of the spotlight at North Texas, she fondly remembers her time within a tight-knit community back home.
Those memories of growing up and learning the game of softball back in Kansas have helped her realize the importance of her upbringing.
"It's so humbling because most of the teammates that I have come from Oklahoma City, Dallas and these big Texas schools where they had 1,600 people in their graduating class," Cobb said. "Everything is bigger in Texas, so their softball was so much bigger. They play like 50 games in their (high school) regular season, while in Kansas, you play 26 games if you make it all the way to the state championship.
"I think it was a bit humbling to take a step back and really value it when I grew up in such a tight-knit community. I loved my time at Silver Lake, and I'm so proud of everything my class accomplished, with three state titles between volleyball and softball. I know that they haven't quite gone back to maybe the eliteness that we had, but they've definitely got a good group there, and I think they're doing great things."
Like the rest of the high school athletes in the state, Cobb was robbed of her senior season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a senior who was due to have a monster season with the Eagles' softball program, she couldn't compete for one last time with the team before playing at college.
Despite missing her senior year, she felt prepared for the next level with her experience and was ready for the challenge.
"I don't think I was afraid of anything," Cobb said. "Everybody is the best where they come from, then you get there, and everyone is on an equal playing field. I'm playing against these 22, 23-year-old players at 17 years old. It was definitely, I'd say, daunting. But my mom played Division I volleyball in North Carolina back in the '80s, early 90s.
"She prepared me my whole life for that level. Definitely, playing travel ball down in Texas prepared me for that level as well. I think I was super prepared even though I didn't have that (senior) season. I knew what to expect once I got there and what was going to be expected of me."
Cobb made 14 starts as a true freshman and appeared in 36 games. The potential for her next three years and the ceiling was high. Although Cobb admitted to having first-year struggles, that year gave her confidence to play with and against anybody on the field.
"Freshman year, I think I had those struggles and ups and downs that every freshman goes through. The coaches were amazing through all of that and were so supportive. Figuring out who you are as a collegiate player as a freshman is challenging.
"At the high school level, you're the best at where you're at, and you get to college, and everybody was the best. You have to find your role, find where you fit in. There will be bumps as a freshman along the way."
After her first year with North Texas, she smoothly settled into her role on the team for her next two seasons. Cobb has been an anchor for the Mean Green outfield and has consistently been a productive bat at the plate.
"Coming out sophomore year, I had a really big year," Cobb said. "It was so great, fun and amazing. This past year didn't go how we wanted it to, but I think we made some great progress and did some great things."
The 2023 campaign ended with North Texas taking a 3-2, 12-inning loss in the Conference USA Championship to Middle Tennessee State. Although the Mean Green fell short, Cobb made a catch that caught many eyes on the internet.
With a 2-1 deficit in the top of the sixth, Middle Tennessee State had the bases loaded with two outs. Laura Mealer smacked the ball deep to right-centerfield and Cobb saved the game by robbing the home run at the fence.
That catch gave North Texas a fighting chance down the stretch and would be a strong reason they could keep playing into extra innings.
"It was just so amazing," Cobb said. "There have been a couple of plays earlier in the year that were very similar to that. I haven't made very many of those plays drifting back to my left at the wall. But I knew it was crunch time, and it was now or never at that moment, so I just went for it. I didn't even know I caught it initially. Then I looked, and there was the ball. I was like, 'Oh okay, that's cool.' "
Student-athletes have to persevere through a great deal of fatigue. Classes, conditioning, weights and maintaining a balanced social life are part of a collegiate athlete's challenges.
For Cobb, it's all about keeping it real for herself. The junior knows she can't play the game she loves forever, so she attacks every practice and game like it's her last, which keeps her motivated to keep pushing through the fatigue.
"Softball season gets really long," Cobb said. "We're going 20 hours a week in the spring. In the fall, we are lifting eight hours a week at 5 a.m. So it definitely gets long and tiring. It's all about keeping perspective. I have one year left of this sport, and I'm not going to play after I'm done.
"There is just not quite enough at that pro level to make it worth it for me personally. I have some teammates and friends that play (professionally), and they love it, but it's all about perspective. I do have a time limit on what I have left. I just need to enjoy and cherish every moment."
With Cobb's experience, she has plenty of advice to offer small-town girls that want to play college softball. One of the most significant pieces of advice she can give is just to be yourself, and things will work themselves out.
"I'd say don't be afraid to fail," Cobb said. "Everything works itself out in the end. My recruitment journey was interesting, to say the least. I ended up at North Texas a week before signing, and that was a spur-of-the-moment thing. You never know what's going to happen or what doors will open. I'd just tell that girl to stay consistent, be yourself, and the right place will find you."
