Penn State’s Dani Fey, a Nittany Lion Through-and-Through

A native of Bangor, Pennsylvania, Dani Fey stayed close to home when she chose to play college softball at Penn State.

Fey’s trophy case in high school include two district championships, a pair of all-area honors, and a trifecta of MVP honors, the Golden Glove Award, and the Slugger Award as a high school junior. An outfielder, she entered Penn State ahead of the 2018 season.

During her freshman year of college, Fey started in the outfield for the Nittany Lions. She stole four bases and notched six RBIs in her rookie year. In the three years that followed, she is best known as a mainstay in center field for her club, occupying the starting role from sophomore year onward.

Through her four-year playing career, Fey recorded 12 doubles; 3 home runs; 23 RBIs; 13 stolen bases; and a .310 on-base percentage.

“If I had to choose [a favorite memory], I would say the bus ride to South Florida the day before Covid shut down our season [in 2020],” Fey said, reflecting on her playing days. “Although everyone knew exactly what was going on in the world, we were all dancing and listening to music on the ride there and focusing on the most important task at hand: have fun with each other and play some softball… building connections with my teammates throughout the years is unmatched. Some of us just recently got together during an alumni weekend after not seeing each other for a very long time and we picked up right where we left off. Although we don’t see or even speak to each other as often as we did when we were teammates, when we get to share time together again, it’s like we are back in the Blue and White on Beard Field.”

When she graduated from Penn State in May 2021, Fey was already working in the marketing world. In August of that same year, she entered the administrative side of college athletics, first in the athletic communications department at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. In February of this year, she returned to Penn State as the Athletic Social Media Coordinator, a position she still holds.

“It did not take me long to find home base again, I am extremely fortunate to be back in Happy Valley!” Fey added.

In addition to her professional endeavors, Fey said she has grown a passion for fitness and nutrition in her post-softball life. “This has also been a huge mental piece for me to unlock the next version of myself without softball,” she noted. So great has her enjoyment of working-out grown, she is currently training for an IronMan race that will take place in Happy Valley next July.

Looking back, Fey noted a primary feature within her professional self that she attributes to her days as a college athlete.

“The main lesson that I have learned from playing softball at a high level that has benefitted me the most in my post-playing life is communication skills,” Fey noted. “Communication, as we all know, is one of the hardest things to master on the field and it only gets harder when you enter post-playing life. I feel I have a leg up on most of these instances because overcommunicating was the desired form of communication during my time as an athlete. I now am prepared to have hard conversations while keeping the main goal in mind at all times (which is always trying to enhance the student-athlete experience!).”