On and off the field, Molly Meyer has meant the world to the softball team and her teammates.

The senior, in her final month on the Flyer softball team, continues to bring a lot to the table as she closes out her career at the University of Dayton.

On the field, Meyer contributes in a big way where she is third on the team in hitting with a .278 batting average. She has been a unique contributor to the team with her speed as well and broke the Dayton career-record for stolen bases earlier this season. On defense, Meyer has been flawless, starting all 41 games this year, yet not committing a single error.

Her talent level in the game comes from a long playing career, but Meyer credits a couple people in her softball life with getting her to the level she is at now.

"Of all the sports I played, in softball I probably had the most influential coaching," Meyer said. "My travel coach, he just taught me a lot about the game. I learned everything I needed to know at an early age. My high school coach was very influential as well."

As a child, Meyer played all kinds of sports, but said she had the best mentoring in softball, along with help from her father.

"He was the coach when I was younger growing up, playing park district ball," Meyer said. "Not so much with the softball mentality, but I think he gave me the athlete mentality."

Meyer stuck with softball and turned out to be quite good. When it became time to choose a place to go to school, Meyer came to Dayton for many of the same reasons so many students do.

"I visited here and loved the campus, loved the size of the school and loved the size of the classes," she said. "Everything kind of came together: the community, the athletics and the academics."

When she came to UD, however, teammate Megan Lee said she was not quite the same excitable person as is seen now. In fact, Meyer was not that happy for a while. That did not last long, though.

"Molly, when she got here, wasn't excited about just being here," Lee said. "She really wasn't happy toward the beginning. Once the season started, she really re-fell in love with UD, and I think her teammates and her love the game."

The rest is history for Meyer, whose career has flourished at UD, where her speed has always been a contributing factor on offense and defense.

"She can cover a lot of ground in the outfield, and she can be aggressive on the bases, which puts us in a position to score," head coach Cara Clark-LaPlaca said.

As she has grown at UD, Meyer's role has changed as well. Now a senior, she works on taking more of a leadership role for the younger players.

"There are a lot of young people on our team, and they just need someone to look up to or a role model on the field," Meyer said.

Meyer carries her responsibilities to set the example off the softball diamond as well. Meyer, like other athletes at UD, takes care of her student responsibilities and makes sure to help her younger teammates with classes.

"[I help younger teammates] off the field with classes, with what classes to take," she said. "That's where I changed goals from just being a leader on the field to being a leader in general for the younger people on our team."

Now in the home stretch of her last hurrah with Dayton softball, Meyer is not taking anything for granted. She plans on finishing the season strong, no matter what.

"I want to have fun, but I also want to win," Meyer said. "Even if the season doesn't go as planned, my mindset is kind of just to enjoy the people I'm with now. This is my last chance to play softball with a bunch of people I love."