WW-P North grad celebrates Ivy softball title, heads to Maccabiah Games
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
In a three-month span, Sydney Turchin will realize the stuff of her dreams on the softball field.
It started when the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North graduate helped the University of Pennsylvania win its first Ivy League championship in 32 years this month to secure their first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament.
”It was incredible,” Turchin said. “The team was like my family. We looked up to the seniors. It was really fun to be a part of such a team effort. It was really great.”
In July she will play for another special team, Team USA, at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.
”I have never done this before,” Turchin said. “I’m excited. I think it’s a really special thing to do to put on a jersey that says ‘USA.’ There will be over 70 countries playing. It’ll be interesting to come off the regional competition with Penn to the international competition. I’m very excited for that.”
For the second straight season, Turchin started for Penn in left field, and for the second straight year she earned second-team All-Ivy League honors for her play. After the Quakers knocked off Dartmouth, 3-2, in the third game of their best-of-three series to win the Ivy championship, they advanced to the NCAA tournament, where they fell to Texas A&M, 12-0 in five innings, and then Arizona, 3-2 in eight innings after leading 2-1 going into the final inning, in the double-elimination regionals action. It’s only made her hungrier to return.
”It was an incredible experience,” said Turchin, who led off the Arizona game with a single. “From the time I was 8 years old, I dreamed of playing for the University of Arizona with US Olympic coach Mike Candrea, and then we got to play against him. It was a lot of fun.”
The trip to regionals capped a season that started slowly for Turchin. Though she slumped early, Penn stuck with her in the leadoff spot and she came around eventually to be a force at the top of the lineup.
”It was really a matter of getting back in the swing of things,” Turchin said. “You’re working hard all fall and in the preseason. It’s getting in the groove. It’s getting used to being back in that environment that you’ve worked to be in.”
Turchin’s speed has made her into a valuable cog of every team that she has played on, from her old West Windsor all-star Little League teams to travel and WW-P North.
”It’s always been a part of who I am,” Turchin said. “I turned into a lefty slapper right before freshman year of high school. It’s all about your speed if you’re a slapper.”
Her speed remains vital to the Quakers. She tied for the team lead with two triples and she ranks second in stolen bases with 13. With 25 in two years, she is on pace to top the Penn all-time career record of 33 set by Sharon Gross from 1979-82.
”When I play, every game I play, I try to leave it all on the field,” Turchin said. “Hitting-wise, fielding-wise, I want to leave the field feeling I left everything out there. That drives me every single game.”
Turchin hit .262 for the year, was third in the team with 29 runs scored and delivered nine RBI. She finished with 37 hits, fourth most on the team.
”There’s always pressure to perform just as well as the year before,” said Turchin, who was the offensive MVP her freshman year. “That had something to do with the start of my season. You work as a team. If someone isn’t doing their best, someone picks it up. It was a lot of fun. I knew what to expect and was able to enjoy it more.”
Turchin and Penn have set the bar higher after this year’s success. The Quakers finished 30-20 overall, 16-4 in the Ivies. Penn was coming off a 33-win season in Turchin’s first year, but the Quakers had fallen just shy of the Ivy title. Turchin had faith this was the year they would claim the crown.
”I absolutely did, especially after our year last year,” she said. “After the disappointment we had last year in the finals, it was something that drove our team. We didn’t want to let anything get in the way.”
Turchin credited the senior leadership with helping to guide the Quakers to the title. Penn had seven seniors this year. In the outfield, Turchin had senior center fielder Jessica Melendez to guide her.
”I never played outfield until I got to college,” Turchin said. “She makes a point of helping me out with everything.”
Turchin had always been a middle infielder growing up, but at Penn she has moved to the outfield where she can utilize her speed in the field and at the plate. In addition to transitioning last year to the college level, she had to learn a new position.
”It’s tough,” she said. “I played outfield maybe five times in my life. It’s a different perspective out there. I had great coaching and it helped me adapt to whatever I had to do.”
Turchin will be in her third season starting next year if she continues to improve, and she will be one of the more veteran players for Penn, which will have a much smaller senior class under the leadership of eight-year head coach Leslie King.
”It’s going to be tough in the beginning because we do have a lot of really great seniors,” Turchin said. “We do have a lot of people to step up. We need people to step up ad take leadership positions and give everything they’ve got.
”We only have three seniors next year, and only one returning captain. I’ll do what I can to step up. If that means taking on more of a leadership role, that’s what I’ll do.”
Turchin is taking that same attitude to the Maccabiah Games where the US will try to defend the gold medal it won in 2009.
”I’ll play wherever they need me to play,” Turchin said. “I think it’ll be a cool experience.”
Penn teammate Elysse Gorney will also play for Team USA. Turchin has been to Israel before, but this trip will be different. It’s the chance to represent her family, school and country in a softball tournament. In her first two years out of WW-P North, she’s done quite a job of it, and she isn’t going to slow up now.
Said Turchin: “I definitely want to keep working on my hitting, keeping that strong, being better in the outfield, and being comfortable wherever she moves me if she wants to move. I want to keep doing what’s been working for me.”