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06/04/2015 12:01 AMWhen a team looks for an ideal senior leader, it wants someone who is willing to play through a little pain and adjust their assignment at a moment’s notice. For the Guilford softball squad, it found the prototypical team player in Mackenzie Iasparra.
As a member of the Indians’ JV club her sophomore year, Mackenzie suffered a right wrist injury that’s caused issues with her throwing even since. But Mackenzie has battled through it all by never missing a single game or practice and, after getting the varsity call-up while switching from the infield to the outfield during her junior season, she took home Guilford’s Most Improved Player Award.
“I had been dealing with the wrist issues for a couple of years now, so I wanted to get through it all for my senior year,” says Mackenzie, who also won the Coaches’ Award for both her JV campaigns. “Ever since that injury, it’s hurt my throwing and other fundamentals of the game, yet I’ve kept going to the doctors to help stabilize it. It was hard to play through, though I didn’t want to miss my senior year of playing. It was important for me to stay on the field.”
Guilford skipper Steve Zajac says that Mackenzie’s durability made an impact on the Indians’ progress on the field, as well as their growth away from the diamond.
“Mackenzie was one of the toughest girls we’ve had on the team. She played through many injuries her senior season without missing a practice or a game,” says Zajac. “She was always willing to do whatever her coaches needed from her. Mackenzie’s leadership and toughness will be missed next season. She was always there for her teammates.”
Mackenzie says that her passion to compete even when she’s not 100 percent comes from her blood, which has also helped her to adjust to playing behind the infield rather than in it.
“I’ve been playing softball so long, so it was important for me to play through it. My father tore his ACL playing softball, yet he was able to still play and that showed me I could get through it all and it was worth it,” Mackenzie says. “I definitely improved a lot as an outfielder to the point where, if you saw me play, you wouldn’t think that I had only been playing there a couple of years. Practicing it every day helped a lot and it was a big change that I was proud to pick up so quickly.”
Taking home some personal hardware after her rookie varsity campaign sparked Mackenzie’s confidence boost following her period of adjustment.
“I was always in the infield, but when I got to varsity, they had that set, so when they moved me, things were a lot different. I had to learn to see and play the ball differently,” says Mackenzie, who also switched from right field to center midway through the recent season. “I started out inexperienced, but it was important for me to not only pick things up and come to practice every day, but to also help out the younger girls on the team.”
Mackenzie also showed some flare with the lumber in two victories this spring versus Shelton (3-for-4, double, RBI, 2 runs) and Law (2-for-4, triple, RBI, run) and feels the 2015 edition of the Indians was the best she’s ever seen.
“In those games, I was trying to see how the pitcher worked through watching the other girls’ at-bats. When I got up there, I just took a deep breath and focused,” Mackenzie says. “We got more close as a team this year and worked well together. We had a tight defense all year, so we were able to prevent teams from getting big leads on us. We also worked on our offense and came so close to states. We also all really complemented each other well.”
In conclusion, Mackenzie couldn’t be more appreciative for the last four years of her life on the softball field while wearing the Guilford green and white
“Playing for Guilford was definitely one of the best experiences I had in high school. It was great to be a part of a great group of girls,” says Mackenzie, who thanks her entire family and all of her coaches. “I really thank my coaches for supporting me, helping me understand the game better, and believing in me.”