Watch Out for Wolfpack Freshman Lily Livingston This Season
Watch for Freshman Lily Livingston
This week, preseason watchlists and rankings have been published day by day from major softball outlets, and the main thing about these lists is they are pretty much off projection, conversation, and what you have seen from past evidence of said player.
As I looked over some of these preseason materials, there are some names that could definitely be there that aren’t. To be real, there is no way you can place everyone on a list who you may feel is deserving. You would probably end up with a Top 300 instead.
In my conversation with NC State Wolfpack Head Softball Coach Lindsay Leftwich on Thursday morning, we discussed some of her players who are looking to make a great impact this season for the Pack. One preseason list that is probably hardest to judge is the Freshmen list. There is no evidence of them in college yet, except for fall ball.
NC State has a team stacked with talent and great potential. You see it every year across the country. Some freshmen just come in ready to go.
One that Lindsay Leftwich said to watch out for is infielder Lily Livingston. Livingston is a player that she has spoken of before in past conversations with me in the fall, and D1Softball has her on their Freshman Preseason Top 100 Watchlist. An infielder with a lot of arm strength, she is someone a pitcher should want behind them in the field.
“Lily’s gonna surprise some people for sure,” Lindsay Leftwich said. “I think from a gamer type perspective. I think Lily is gonna show up and really surprise some people.”
Leftwich went on to talk about Livingston and the reality that she will face some growing pains. It is just natural, but working through them and becoming the player she knows she can be is not a concern at all.
Lily has had great experience with high level travel ball and playing at a high level in high school as well. Through a lot of work and repetition, she has formed characteristics and abilities that you really can’t teach. As a freshman, that says a bunch about her and where she has come from.
“Her overhand velo is like, I mean she’s living in the low seventies. Like balls across the infield are just hammered. So, she has the ability because of that to make a mistake, to boot a ball off her chest, to do whatever and pick it up and still throw somebody out. You know, those are things that are hard to teach,” Leftwich said.
Leftwich and the Pack have begun to build some depth and a solid roster with total buy in, and it takes special players to come in and do their part just as much as the upperclassmen on the team. Leftwich has coached a lot of good players in the past, and Livingston draws some parallels to a couple of them.
“You know, I’ve coached two other kids in the infield in my career that have thrown like that, Taylor Pleasants and Taylor Tidwell at LSU, and obviously they were both really good at what they did. So, I think Lily has a chance to grow here, and really become a really special player.”
Keep an eye out for Lily Livingston this season in Raleigh, North Carolina, and don’t be surprised if she has a strong freshman season to help elevate the Pack to new heights.
