Lady Mustangs alum bounces back from injury to postseason honors

The only way to sum up MacKenzie Hill’s sophomore softball season at Trinity University is that she went from the brink of ultimate frustration to enjoying the ultimate accomplishment.

An impingement in her right shoulder lingered from the fall into the start of the 2015 season.

Rehab didn’t change her luck. While she could swing the bat without any difficulty, throwing a ball became downright painful. It was all she could do to throw it 20 feet. The dilemma persisted into early March.

“It’s common in a lot of outfielders because of overuse,” said the Grapevine product, who just finished her second year at the private Division III school in San Antonio. “It’s treatable. But I just couldn’t find something that would work. It was really painful.”

With nothing to lose, Hill checked with members of the baseball team. Several said they threw weighted balls and used a series of flexibility exercises to help them.

That was the turning point. Almost immediately after she started this solution, the impingement released. The pain practically was gone. Hill could resume normal throwing.

Now, all she had to do was convince the Trinity coaches she could resume the season. Although her testimony was greeted with caution, Hill let her bat speak loudly.

She made the All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball First Team. Hill batted .342 with 14 RBIs and 19 runs scored. She also homered. In 2014, Hill was an all-conference second-team selection.

“I felt like I was coming from behind the whole season because of my injury,” Hill said. “I know the coaches wanted to ease me back into everything and looked at things long-term. I just had to convince them that I could play and that I could throw like I normally could.”

Hill enjoyed a solid career at Grapevine. She grew up through the program playing the outfield and pitching. She’s a mainstay as Trinity’s center fielder. Accuracy and arm strength have led to a solid career.

But she’s emerged as an accomplished hitter. She said she’s worked on placing the ball to all fields. However, Hill does it with a swing that’s considered more of a baseball-style approach.

However, she said the Trinity coaches chose not to change anything because of the results. Going 4-for-6 in a doubleheader against rival Southwestern was just another example of how she’s found success.

“The [first-team] all-conference selection was surprising because of the way things were going at the start of the year,” Hill said. “I didn’t even know if I was going to play. The goal I had in my mind was to just get on the field and be healthy.”

Hill is taking advantage of her opportunity academically as well. She said she recorded a 4.0 grade-point average in both her fall and spring semesters. Once she has graduated, she plans to move on to graduate school, where she wants to study hospital administration. However, the game probably will always be with her.

“But I wouldn’t mind having something on the side,” she said, “where I was still involved in softball and coaching a team.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Lady Mustangs alum bounces back from injury to postseason honors."