Greencastle sends two more to continue softball career as Hunter moves to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and Lantzy heads to Mount Saint Joseph University

Greencastle softball will now have at least three individuals continuing their softball playing days next year as Sydney Lantzy will attend Mount Saint Joseph in the 2023-24 school year. With Lantzy at her signing were mother Michelle Modlin, father Jeff Modlin and sister Makena.

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While Elise Lausee will be going north to play softball at the collegiate level, teammates Sydney Lantzy and Emma Hunter will be heading east and west respectively to also keep their bats hot and gloves in play.

Lantzy signed earlier this month to make the move to Mount Saint Joesph University while Hunter will go the opposite direction to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College for the 2023-24 school year.

“It’s close to home, I love the campus and I love the softball coach,” Hunter said on choosing St. Mary-of-the-Woods. “I also can have my car on campus as a freshman.”

“It felt like home,” Lantzy said about attending Mount St. Joe’s. “The coaches treat me like their daughter already, even though I haven’t been there yet, and the campus is very pretty.”

Both Greencastle seniors said they enjoyed the campuses they visited, noting the smaller class sizes were a plus.

“I compare the compare the (Mount St. Joe’s) campus to DePauw,” Lantzy noted. “I’ve always liked the DePauw campus but I didn’t want to be that close to home.

“It compares to DePauw very well and is very clean. The average class size is about 30-35, which is nice.”

“I wanted to go to a small school,” Hunter said. “I didn’t want to go to a big school and the class sizes were about like high school, even a little smaller at times.”

Greencastle softball will now have at least three individuals continuing their softball playing days next year as Emma Hunter signed to play at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in the 2023-24 school year. With Hunter at her signing were mother Megan and father Tim.

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The tandem, which held down the left side of the Tiger Cub infield last year, will likely be looked at to add catching duties to their college portfolios while being big bats in the lineup.

“The coaches will be looking to use me as a shortstop, at catcher and as a power hitter,” Hunter said.

“They see me as a right-handed catcher, a third baseman and a right handed power and a left-handed slapper to use my speed,” Lantzy said. “Being a switch-hitter helps in different situations; if we need a certain bunt, I can use my speed to score a run if needed.”

As for their studies, both will likely be involved with schools in the future.

“I plan to study elementary education and minor in business,” Hunter said. “I want to teach in a kindergarten class.”

“I plan to major in exercise science,” Lantzy said. “I still want to be with athletes after college; I’m unsure whether I want to do athletic training, physical therapy or even nursing. I’m not certain what I want to do quite yet.”

While drive distances will be different as Mount St. Joe’s, located in Cincinnati, and St. Mary-of-the-Woods, located in Terre Haute, were roughly two hours and an hour away from Greencastle, both said being away from family was going to be a challenge early on.

“Leaving home,” Lantzy said. “(Mount St. Joe) is two-and-a-half hours away; I’m really close with my family, so that’s going to be an adjustment, even though it’s not too far away.

“Academically, it won’t be too much of an adjustment as the class sizes are similar and exercise science is something that I will enjoy studying, so it won’t be too bad.”

“I won’t get to see my family every day,” Hunter added. “(St. Mary-of-the-Woods) isn’t too far away but I’m not going to come home every single day, so that will be rough.

“It won’t be hard to adjust socially because I’m a very social person and don’t care about who I am talking to.”

Though both had signed some time before the start of the softball season and will not have the added pressure of still deciding on where to attend, both players were still lazered in on the upcoming softball season.

“I still want to work hard,” Lantzy said. “Just because I am committed doesn’t mean that I can’t work hard anymore because the chance to play can go away at any time.”

“Especially since we’re seniors and team leaders, we need to work harder than other people,” Hunter added.