The Ohio Outlaws organization has had over 30 players sign or commit to major colleges in conferences like the ACC, Big Ten and MAC over the last several years and one of those is a 2018 outfielder whom Outlaws President and Recruiting Coordinator Warren Wolff says simply, “is a beast.”

The player he’s talking about is Lexi Wagner, who recently committed to Pitt and plays for the Outlaws Premier 18U Gold team.  She is from Pittsburgh, Pa. and attends Seton-LaSalle Catholic High School.

And the reason she’s called a “Beast” is because of what she can do on and off the field.

Lexi has been playing up with older teams for four years now including three years at the 18U level even though she’s only a freshman right now.  It’s not like she hasn’t showed well: last year she hit 12 home runs for the Outlaws in top-level 18U college showcase tournaments and six of those came against committed D1 pitchers.

She finished with a batting average over .400 for the club team and was third in RBI and home runs. This on a team with six committed D1 players in the 2016 and ’17 classes.

Lexi is the youngest on the team and she appreciates the opportunity to play against older high level competitors.

“Playing for such a well known organization like the Ohio Outlaws has been great,” she says humbly. “  Going against girls who are already committed to schools like Michigan and Louisville and getting to face them and have success when playing against them has been amazing as well.”

Video of Lexi hitting and fielding:

“It has made me believe in my abilities to play softball at the highest level and also knowing that I will play ACC softball one day for my hometown team is such a dream come true for me.”

The chance to play at home for the Univ. of Pittsburgh was too much to pass up and she committed last month.  She had also visited Penn State, which had offered, as well as Central Florida and was also invited to invitation-only prospect camps at the Missouri and Mercer.

She’s currently carrying a 3.5 GPA and says she likes science and geometry as subjects and likes reading.

“I like reading books like the Hunger Games and Divergent,” she adds.

But when she puts the books and softball glove away, she has another passion: working out in Crossfit and weightlifting.

Lexi is a hard-core workout warrior and recently was able to bench press 140 pounds, a weight many football players her age would struggle to lift.  She also squats 185 pounds on a 12 inch box and uses 45 pound dumbbells for three sets of eight reps.

Lexi bench press 100 pounds 10x with a close grip

Definitely, not a regiment for the weak or out of shape!

Ironically, it was softball and playing up with older players that drove her to be so passionate about working out.

“When I first started playing up,” she remembers, “a lot of players my age didn’t think I was good enough to do that.  I used their disbelief to fuel my drive to work harder and harder on my game.”

“I went to hitting and fielding lessons every week.  I dragged my dad to the field all the time to pitch to me and hit me balls. I decided to join the gym and work with a personal trainer three to four days a week to get bigger, faster and stronger.”

Mission accomplished as she’s fine-tuned her softball skills and athletic ability to get the chance to play at the next level.  It’s scary to think how, with three and a half years until she hits the Pitt campus, how much bigger, faster and stronger the “Beast” can get.

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Here are some more videos of Lexi in the gym…

Chinup bar “sit ups”

Hand walking off a box: