Boesel and Maguire Make a Special Middle Infield Combo

They don’t have flashy nicknames. There aren’t any colorful superstitions either, but South Carolina’s senior middle infielders Kenzi Maguire and Mackenzie Boesel are among the most dynamic duos in college softball.

“Nope, I’m just ‘Mack,'” Boesel said.

“My dad calls me ‘mouse’ because I looked like a rat as a baby,” Maguire deadpanned. “My mom said I was the cutest thing ever, and that he couldn’t call me ‘rat,’ so he called me ‘mouse.’ I’m not offended. I did look like a rat. No nicknames here. I’m just Kenzi. She’s just ‘Mack.’ I’m not superstitious; I’m scarred. My brothers played all-stars and my mother and her best friend kept a dead lizard for two weeks because my brothers’ team kept winning. I don’t have any dead lizards. I braid hair and chew gum.”

Kenzi  Maguire

South Carolina’s team theme this year is “Linked,” and the veteran middle infielders have certainly been that over the last several years, even if they came from different paths. Boesel was a gymnast as a youngster and grew up in California, while Maguire was a cheerleader from Florida. Gamecocks fans are thankful they found softball.

Individually, Maguire and Boesel have drawn comparisons to some of the all-time diamond greats for their outstanding work at their positions and going into their fourth season playing side by side at shortstop and second base, they’re one of the best combinations in the country. Each has earned All-SEC honors in their careers. They rarely make errors and can make the impossible look routine.

“It’s really helpful, and it’s really rare that two people get to play so closely together for four years,” Boesel said. “It’s like I can read her mind, and I know what she’s going to do. I know when a ball his hit to her, how she’s going to throw it and where it’s going to be. We have that bond where we know how each other plays. We just sort of read each other’s minds on how the other is going to play and how they think in different situations.”

“I think we’ve been successful because we have played next to each other every day for so long,” Maguire said. “We just have that interaction where I know what she is going to do before she does it, and she knows what I’m going to do before I do it. It’s really fun. We’ll just laugh because I’ll do this flip where she can’t see the ball, but she’ll say, ‘I knew it was coming, so it’s fine!'”

In baseball, there are many great middle infield combinations through history such as Concepcion and Morgan (Reds) or Trammel and Whitaker (Tigers) to name a few from baseball. For softball, Maguire and Boesel share a common favorite tandem.

“You mean besides Kenzi and me?” Boesel said with a laugh. “I think on the U.S. Olympic team, Delaney Spaulding and Ali Aguilar are really good.”

“Like Mack said, it’s us. You can’t beat that,” Maguire said comically. “No, I’d have to agree, the Team USA infield is really awesome!”

“Taking away a game-winning hit is the most satisfying.”
– Kenzi  Maguire

All kidding aside, while the two are gifted, there is a lot of work and preparation that goes into preparing for opposing hitters.

“We spend a lot of time on scouting reports,” Maguire said. “We have all this video out there now. You want to have that extra step in one direction so that you’re ready. We spend a lot of time on scouting reports on offense and defense. We watch games all the time, even when we’re on the bus. We watch to see what we can learn.”

“Nav (Associate Head Coach Lisa Navas) will tell us when hitters typically hit up the middle, so we’ll pinch up the middle,” Boesel said. “That’s all in the scouting report. Just watching games on TV and having access to all those games helps. I definitely look in to see what pitch is being called. I like knowing things like if it’s an outside pitch on a righty, they’re likely going to hit in the 3-4 hole. So, I like to anticipate that it’s going in that direction.”

Mackenzie  Boesel

In addition to their defensive prowess, both do more than hold their own at the plate. Boesel enters 2020 with a career batting average of .352 with 26 home runs and 125 RBI in her previous three seasons. Maguire is a career .305 hitter, who hit a career-best .321 last season, with 74 runs batted in while wearing the garnet and black. She has also been known to take one for the team as she enters 2020 having been hit by a pitch 49 times, which is tied with teammate Jana Johns for the most in school history. 

“Defense is my thing,” Maguire said with a giggle. “I just love defense. I put in all the work that I can on my defense. I think I can do some things that others can’t do, and I like to teach that, too. I just have a lot of fun with defense.”

“I take pride in defense, but I think I’d rather be known as a hitter and somebody who can be relied on,” Boesel said. “I just want to be a consistent hitter that my team can count on.”

Maguire’s ability to make diving plays in the hole as well as her submarine whip-quick release has led to a pair of ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 plays in each of the last two seasons.

“Derek Jeter was my man! He still is my man!” Maguire said of the comparisons made with her to that of her favorite shortstop. “It’s really cool. It showed that all my hard work paid off. It was great for my school, and it was great because it means I made the play for my team.

“Just being dedicated into working hard and being as fast as I can on defense and trusting all that work I’ve put in is what helps. I don’t have to have the strongest arm or hit a lot of home runs to help my team.”

Boesel grew up idolizing her older sister, Brittany, who played shortstop at DePaul.

“I always followed her around and practiced with her growing up,” Boesel said. “She’s five years older than me, so I was practicing things that were a little advanced for someone my age. I think she really helped me become the player I am today, especially defensively.”

While the two excel with the gloves and the bats, they do have opposite views when it comes to what’s a more satisfying feat during a game.

“Taking away a game-winning hit is the most satisfying. It’ll ruin somebody’s day!” Maguire said with a laugh while pumping her fist.

“I want both!” Boesel said. “I’ll do the big hit, and Kenzi can have the big diving play.”

Both have goals of leading the team to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series, and they know that being strong up the middle can certainly help them get there.

“I love the leadership that Kenzi has and the fun that she brings!”

“Mack is very confident and leads the team with hitting. She brings it with the defense every day as well. I know she is going to make every play that is hit to her, and she gives me that confidence, too.”