GALLATIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — There isn’t a college softball player right now more explosive than Macauley Bailey.
The former Station Camp standout is turning heads at Carson-Newman. She ranks top three nationally in RBIs – and she’s just a freshman.
“I was actually walking through it’s called the Henderson Humanities Building on campus,” said Bailey. “And one of my teachers was like, ‘did you know that you’re on the athletics twitter?’ And I was like, ‘no, I haven’t been on my phone, I’ve been in class.’ And he was like, ‘oh well, it says you lead Division III in RBIs.’ And I was like, oh!”
Bailey is second in the South Atlantic Conference in home runs and 16th nationally with 10. She’s already had two games this season where she’s knocked two out of the park.
“Hitting two home runs a day is probably my favorite kind of day because it’s like oh one of them, OK, but when you hit two, like it’s not a fluke. Like you are just that you are just being really good that day.”
But, everyday wasn’t good for Bailey. The COVID-19 pandemic was a low point in her career.
“When you’re about 16 in travel ball, that’s when you get recruiting and you go to all these showcases and that’s when COVID hit in my recruiting season, which is very unfortunate. It was super hard to get motivated to go and practice on my own when I couldn’t see my teammates.”
“When I transferred high schools I was definitely in a bad place mentally with softball, but I came here to Station Camp they definitely helped me fall back in love with the sport.”
And she’s taken it by storm — chasing the first triple crown in SAC history.
“It’s definitely a full circle moment. I guess I wish I could go back and tell her — that girl, me — like it’s going to be OK and just to keep swinging. It just felt really nice to know that people saw me and were proud of me and people knew that my hard work had paid off.”
Thursday, Bailey was put on the NFCA National Player of the Year watch list. Bailey’s 49 RBIs in 32 games, not only ranks her 3rd nationally in Division II, but that’s also third best in Division I softball as well.
