By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
Sitting out almost all of her freshman season with a rare muscle and nerve injury, redshirt freshman right-handed pitcher Lexie Warncke returned to the circle and has already made an influence on Baylor softball in her first full season.
After four appearances in 2024, Warncke saw her pitches continuing to decrease in velocity, despite feeling little to no pain.
“It was like, ‘Why is my ball losing so much speed? Why does my pitch go from 67 to 58?’” Warncke said. “It’s not like I’ve lost any muscle or strength. It’s like I cannot throw it above 58 miles per hour. I really was confused and was like, I have no idea what’s wrong with me because I am not in physical pain.”
Warncke was then diagnosed with acute exertional compartment syndrome, or AECS — an injury that stems from increased pressure and usage of a specific muscle area and usually has a delayed diagnosis. She underwent surgery and was out for the remainder of her freshman year.
“It was really hard because most of the season … I still had no idea what exactly my diagnosis was,” Warncke said. “It was extremely hard not knowing or not having any answers while I was redshirting.”
Warncke, unable to pitch, stayed in the dugout to support her team — which made a run to the Gainesville Super Regional and was one game short of the program’s fifth College World Series appearance.
“It was really hard just to sit there and you’re not able to throw the ball and play with your teammates,” Warncke said. “But there were definitely good moments where I realized that being a student of the game [is good and] watching my team — especially being so young as a freshman.”
Throughout her journey, Warncke’s recovery efforts have strengthened the team’s bond and unity. Her teammates were an anchor for her last season and have continued to support her as she has become a familiar face in the circle at Getterman Stadium.
“Most of them didn’t know me last year when I was going through it,” Warncke said. “Now I’m post-surgery, so they don’t know exactly, but they still go out of their way to ask how I’m doing and how I’m feeling every day.”
After a spring and summer recovery, Warncke returned to working with the team in the fall, intending to be better than the year before.
“This fall was definitely a growing season for me,” Warncke said. “I was definitely focusing on recovering from surgery and kind of gaining that strength back.”
While focusing on growing, Warncke knew she could not do it alone. AECS is rare in itself, but also primarily affects the lower body.
“I had to reach out to a lot of people during the fall and just really lean on my teammates and my coaches to grow,” Warncke said. “It was a very rare injury, so it was really just figuring out myself, my arm, and what it would give me and how long it would take to get it back to where it was.”
After going through the fall, Warncke’s eyes were set for her first full season at Baylor. She focused on learning, even with ups and downs throughout the season.
“This being my first full season, I would say just learning as much as I can,” Warncke said. “I’m still struggling a little bit with the consistency of my arm and getting it back to where it was. It’s definitely been a little more flow than I thought it would be.”
Sitting in ninth place out of 11 teams in the Big 12 with a 15-21 record, the Bears are not where they were hoping to be. In 2024, Baylor was 22-14 at the 36-game mark — seven games better than this year’s record. Confidence has been the key for the Bears with head coach Glenn Moore and multiple players expressing the belief the team will turn it around and make a run in the conference, despite the frustrating results.
“I think we were ready to play today, we did everything from a scouting standpoint, we didn’t take anything for granted, and it just did not go our way, which is very frustrating,” Moore said after a loss to UT Arlington on March 26. “My message to the team is that we can’t allow this to cost us runs in our games on Friday or Saturday or Sunday. We’ve got to let this be in the past.”
According to Warncke, the team’s record has continued to weigh on them, forcing their play to suffer because of the mounting deficit. The redshirt freshman believes that the way out of this is “to take a step back and take a deep breath” as the team has been “very stressed” and “playing kind of tight.”
Throughout the roller coaster of a season, Warncke and freshman right-handed pitcher Sadie Ross made a contribution to the pitching staff right away. The duo has accounted for 104 1/3 of the team’s 236 1/3 innings pitched this season and makes up one half of the four-pitcher rotation. Moore described their situation as “baptism by fire” as they are both in their first full season of their collegiate careers.
“Being a freshman, it’s kind of it’s rough, but I think it’s just growing us as people and just making us stronger,” Warncke said about her and Ross contributing almost half of the team’s total innings pitched. “After a bad outing or an outing that I struggle, it definitely feels like that. But I just know behind all that, it’s making me stronger as a pitcher.”
Warncke sees this season as a great growing experience for her and Ross, despite having some tough appearances. The experience they are getting from their work is helping them as leaders with three more years of eligibility and senior pitchers Dariana Orme and Lillie Walker in their last year.
“I think Sadie‘s getting so much experience this year, and I think I’m growing so much and learning so much about my arm and my body and how recovery needs to go,” Warncke said. “As hard as it is, I think having that struggle is just going to make us stronger and I think Sadie and I are going to be able to say we’ve been through some tough times and have had some great leadership too.”
Warncke and the Bears hope to turn their season around with 18 games remaining in the regular season, including 12 conference matchups. They will be back in action at 6 p.m. Friday against Houston at Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston.
