Double play: Macfarlane twins are each other’s biggest supporters

LOGAN, Utah — Stealing home plate is an achievement that’s few and far between. For junior center fielder Mazie Macfarlane, she’s been there and done that. Just add it to her tally of 16 steals this season. 

Mazie has been a force in the outfield for Utah State Softball in the last two years. In 2020 as a freshman, she started every game and hit a .329 average. Her performance earned her All-Mountain West honors.

As a sophomore, Mazie’s batting average dipped down to .230, but she walked a team-high 17 times. Now, in her junior campaign, senior catcher Gabby Jimenez calls her “the leader” of the outfield. 

“She has been able to show the freshmen our standards,” Jimenez said. “She’s taken that leadership and she’s going to be good for the future.” 

Mazie is also the team’s leadoff batter. She’s earned the role with her success getting on base and her crafty baserunning. She leads the team in walks and stolen bases. 

Mazie’s twin sister, junior first baseman and catcher Makenzie Macfarlane, said Mazie “does the leadoff role well.”

“It’s always nice having her leadoff because she gets on base a lot,” Makenzie said. “I would say she’s really disciplined up to the plate.”

Mazie’s on-base percentage is second on the team behind RBI-machine Lexi Orozco. Orozco hits clean-up for the Aggies and has batted Mazie in several times.

“I have a lot of confidence in the rest of our lineup because I know that they’re going to get a hit and get me in,” Mazie said. “I love leading off and being able to start for our team.” 

It may be hard to tell Mazie and Makenzie apart based on appearance, but there’s no trouble telling them apart on the diamond. Mazie does everything left-handed and Makenzie does everything right-handed. That difference was a major factor in why they play such different positions. 

“She was kind of limited on being on the infield or catching, but she used to pitch when we were younger,” Makenzie said. 

That was before Mazie realized she was a better outfielder. 

As for Mazie’s skill in swiping bags, she said it’s more than just her speed. 

“I just think it doesn’t really matter about speed because if you’re a smart baserunner then it doesn’t really matter,” Mazie said. “If you’re leaving on time and being smart and aggressive, that’s all you really need compared to speed.”

Makenzie trusts Mazie to steal “110%” of the time. 

“I think she’s a really smart base runner,” Makenzie said. “She gets good reads on the ball. She’s pretty fast — she’s not the fastest, but she’s definitely a really smart base runner.”

The twins said the entire team is super close,  but they can read each other better.

“Mazie and I know when something’s wrong with each other and can read each other a lot better than I can read other people,” Makenzie said. “It’s not really twin telepathy, but it’s pretty close. We’re really good at reading each other and knowing how to help each other when we’re down.” 

 They say they are each other’s biggest supporter.

“It’s cool because we get to do everything together,” Makenzie said. It’s just really nice to have somebody that has your back and is just like you are.”

“We’ve played with each other our whole lives so it’s so nice to just have the comfortability,” Mazie said. “I know she’s my biggest supporter and I’m her biggest supporter. It’s just nice to always have her there with me.”

The Macfarlanes’ biggest fans are their parents. 

“They’re so supportive,” Mazie said. 

Their dad was the “best coach” growing up. Their mom is not as interested in softball but still cheers on her girls. 

“It’s a good balance. We have a good balance with our support system and our parents.,” Mazie said. “My dad’s all softball, my mom’s not and my stepmom’s all not softball, so it’s just nice talking about other stuff because they don’t care how we did.”

The parents drive and fly out to see them play in Logan when they can, but they are not able to make it to every game. 

“The only reason I don’t like home games and I’d rather play in California is because my parents don’t get to come the whole time,” Mazie said. 

Even though her parents are not always at Johnson Field, Mazie said her team gets a lot of support from fellow student-athlete Aggies. They often stand behind the third base foul ball line cheering on the softball team. 

“It’s always nice because it’s like seeing a friendly face in like a crowd of strangers,” Mazie said. “It’s so nice having other athletes be your friends because it’s just good to see them and have a sense of community and a familiar face.”

The Macfarlanes are part of the softball team’s strong turnaround, from four conference wins last year to starting off this conference slate with two straight sweeps. This success has continued a trend in the athletics department that Makenzie said started off with a culture change. 

“Football started off with changing the culture and then soccer did really well and volleyball and then gymnastics so we just wanted to keep it rolling,” Makenzie said. “Didn’t want to let down our fellow women’s athletics and men’s.” 

Makenzie credits this year’s success with the team taking on different mentalities this season. 

“We obviously didn’t have a good season last year and we didn’t want it to happen again,” Makenzie said. “I feel like this year we really playing for each other and having each others’ backs rather than more it being an individual game. We’re not as selfish as we were last year as a team and it’s more for each other.”

Head coach Steve Johnson said both Macfarlanes’ attitudes have been nothing but hard work at Utah State. 

“Mazie’s one of the hardest workers. Her and her sister are just tremendous workers,” Johnson said. “Their freshmen year we had to tell them to back off a little bit, some of the extra workouts they were putting in, but that’s how they’ve been since we started recruiting them.” 

The Macfarlanes continued that work in the Florida Gulf Coast League last summer. Johnson said he can see their growth from that experience. 

“They came back with a different perspective on some things,” Johnson said. 

That perspective has shown itself in their confidence this season. 

Makenzie said confidence is one of the main reasons for Mazie’s success at the plate this year. 

“She’s becoming very, very confident,” Makenzie said. “She’s just really grown so much and her maturity level is a lot better. I feel like both of our maturity level is a lot better.” 

Jimenez said she’s very diligent and driven, but dwelled more on her positive attitude. 

“She cares for others when they’re in hard situations and she always wants to see the positive in things,” Jimenez said. “When things are going bad she always uplifts people and she’s a positive person to be around.” 

Mazie’s diligence and optimism are paying off for her individual performance and the team as a whole as they look to keep their winning ways in conference play.