GORHAM — Oakley McLeod is only a junior at Windham High School, but she may have already done more to help the mental health of young athletes in Maine than anybody.

On Sunday, McLeod, a member of the Windham softball team, put on her second Mental Edge Softball Camp. Last spring, the first one drew 85 softball players in grades 3 through 8 to Portland’s Payson Park. This year, the camp was held in the University of Southern Maine’s fieldhouse, with 160 softball players registered.

The goal wasn’t to just improve softball skills. McLeod and the other instructors wanted to get the younger players to play softball with a healthy mental approach.

“When I was younger, I was so hard on myself. I still am a little bit. I feel like when you grow up you might be more hard on yourself because you know the game more. I realized I need to have more fun instead of worrying or stressing out,” McLeod said. “I learned that a lot of kids really struggle with mental health in softball. I realized it’s a mental health game. … I want kids to be more positive in this sport.”

The Southern Maine Community College softball team gets it. On Thursday, coach Chris Caswell and his team took a 10-0 win over Florida National in DuBois, Pennsylvania to earn the USCAA Small College national championship. The Sea Wolves know nobody wins a championship at any level without a strong mental approach.

“We talk about it all the time. It’s such a big part for today’s athlete. The kids nowadays, unlike when I was younger, the pressures they have on them, just life in general. Mental health has become such a big part of athletics. Every year, I’ll be here,” Caswell said. “As a coach, we have to promote it. It’s still hard to get athletes to open up and had those conversations. That when as a coach with today’s athletes, you have to build those personal relationships and make sure that you’re taking the time with each individual athlete. Every athlete’s different.”

SMCC went into the final day of the USCAA Small College World Series knowing Florida National had to beat it twice. After Florida National took a 4-0 win in game one Thursday, it was a one-game tournament for the title. This is where mental toughness and mental health is tested. Caswell had a talk with Sarah Wilkins, his staff ace who just took the loss in game one.

“We play that first championship game and we lose. I go to Sarah, and I say listen, I want to start you again. She starts kind of, ‘I don’t know, Coach, I don’t know.’ Kind of doubting herself,” he said. “You’ve got to dial it up and get her back in that right head space. And she came out and performed like she has all year.”

Wilkins threw a complete game, two-hit shutout in the deciding game, a 10-0 SMCC win. Emily Hutchins, a sophomore co-captain from Kennebunk, played catcher and second base for SMCC this season. Like Caswell, she was happy to volunteer her time to instruct at the Mental Edge camp.

“As I’ve grown up a catcher, I’ve noticed everyone kind of looks to the catcher to be tough in those hard situations, when things get stressed out and aren’t going well,” Hutchins, who goes by the nickname Scrappy, said. “I think being able to leave things in the past and be in the moment is super important. If you’re holding on to an error from a couple innings ago … it lets everyone else know hey, you’ve lost confidence. You’ve lost faith.”

Hutchins said she’s fought her own mental health battles. Making the move to college was not easy.

“Going to college was a big transition. Not being at home and having the support I was used to is something I struggled a lot with,” Hutchins said. “I made it a priority to come here, just because it means so much to me, that young girls are being exposed to this and learning how to be mentally tough on and off the field.”

Give McLeod a hand for spearheading this event, and making it grow the second time around. Give applause to the coaches and players happy to help McLeod out with their time and expertise. Like Theresa Arsenault, the field hockey coach at St. Joseph’s College.

A member of St. Joe’s Hall of Fame after being a standout in field hockey, basketball, and softball as a student, Arsenault spoke to the campers Sunday morning, urging them to get to know each other and talk. It’s OK to feel upset when you make a mistake on the field, Arsenault said, but don’t let it get to you.

“The biggest thing that held me back as an athlete was here,” Arsenault said, and with both of her index fingers, she pointed at her head.