Fulton County Ohio Media

With the recent ending of the 2023 OHSAA Softball season, Macy Chamberlain of the Evergreen Lady Vikings received her last and most significant accolade when the junior, and Penn State University commit, was named to the OHSAA DIII Girls Softball First Team as a catcher.  It has been assumed, by many of those who have followed Macy’s career since she first stepped on the field as highly-touted high school freshman, that it was just a matter of time before she would be recognized at the highest level.  And now that times has arrived.  The All-Ohio honors came after Macy was named First team All-District, First team All-NWOAL and NWOAL Player of the Year. 

Obviously, what heavily factors when any choice is made by the selection committees, are the individual offensive statistics by the player.  Macy’s numbers this season were not just record setting, they were at video game level.   Her 2023 stats read like this:  Plate Appearances (75), At Bats (52), Hits (38), Batting Average (.731), Walks (23), On-Base Percentage (.813), Doubles (7), Home Runs (21), Slugging Percentage (2.077), Runs Batted In (44), Runs (32), Stolen Bases (8).  In one game she had three home runs, two of them with the bases loaded and nine RBIs. 

What may help put Macy’s 2023 performance at the plate in a better perspective are two considerations.  One, she played, debatably, the toughest and most physically demanding defensive position in softball, catcher.  Historically speaking, catchers are not often offensive statistical leaders due to the wear and tear the work takes on the body.  Two, Ms. Chamberlain come into this year already a well-known commodity.  In every game and every at bat, her reputation stepped into the batter’s box before she did.  Macy was feared as a hitter not just throughout the NWOAL, but by every opposing coach and every opposing pitcher who had to face her.  It was not surprising to see her issued a base on balls in almost one-third of her plate appearances, with many of those intentionally.

Macy Chamberlain has one more season of high school ball with her Lady Vikings before she packs her bags for Happy Valley and the campus of PSU.  She is a generational talent and one I know the Evergreen community appreciates and realizes how lucky they are to have been able to watch and be a part of.

Photo: Macy fires down to second base.