Softball's Maguire Doesn't Have Time for the Pain
From Spurs & Feathers
Kenzi Maguire plays with pain, but that’s nothing new for South Carolina’s sixth-year shortstop who has overcome a handful of injuries and surgeries throughout her career. After a knee injury last fall threatened to end her career, Maguire told team officials she’d wait until after the season to have surgery, so she can enjoy one more year in the garnet and black.
“They told me that I would definitely need surgery to get it fixed,” said Maguire. “That was a hard conversation. It was more frustrating than anything. I decided to say, ‘whatever’ and play. I’ll get it fixed after the season because it doesn’t allow me to walk without a little limp. Some days are worse than others.
“I’m passionate about softball. I love to do it. Even when it hurts. I just tell my body to ignore it and move on.”
Maguire makes the impossible seem routine from her shortstop position. Her range and whip-like, submarine throws are a pitcher’s best friend and a hitter’s nightmare as she routinely takes away sure base hits. Pain has become routine for Maguire as well, and she had wrist and knee surgeries last summer.
“I pretty much live in the training room.”
“My knee has bothered me for a couple of years, but we always thought it was a pulled or strained muscle. Then I saw (team orthopedic surgeon) Dr. (Jeff) Guy, and they diagnosed it as a rare injury called popliteus insufficiency, where the muscle behind the knee that allows you to straighten and bend your knee doesn’t function for itself.
“Now, I pretty much live in the training room. It makes it so my knee doesn’t want to straighten, or it doesn’t want to bend. It can be one or the other on any day. It’s painful, but what’s a little pain? I’ve played through injury every year of my career here. It’s nothing new to me.”
Maguire played through a torn hamstring as a freshman, broke her wrist in her second year, worked through plantar fasciitis the next year, and then tore the labrum in her left shoulder.
“I had a 360-degree tear. So, I basically didn’t have one,” Maguire said. “Last year I tore my TFCC in my right wrist, and that was the worst he had ever seen.”
Maguire and the other spring sports seniors were granted an extra year of eligibility after most of last season was canceled due to COVID-19.
While she has wowed with the glove and has earned Second Team All-SEC honors, Maguire also holds her own at the plate with a .308 career average. As more evidence of her toughness, she also ranks second in program history after being hit by a pitch 58 times in her career.
“I can’t move. It’s coming at me, and I cannot move. I don’t know why. My dad raised me that way, I guess.”
Maguire earned CoSIDA Academic All-American honors last spring, and she already has her degree in Sports and Entertainment Management. She also earned a master’s in Educational Technology in December.
As a sixth-year player, Maguire may seem like an “old woman” to some of the younger players, but she has the respect of her teammates and has helped her father coach a travel ball team back home in Tampa, Fla.
“It’s a running joke that I’m the grandma of the team,” Maguire said with a laugh. “I really enjoy coaching, so I want to look into that. I really like travel ball when the kids are younger because you get to help them fulfill their dreams and go to a school that they’ve wanted to for a long time. I really like personal training as well, so I’m going to try to get my certification in that, too.”
When she does finally take off the glove for the last time, there will be big size 7.5 shoes to fill at shortstop for South Carolina.
“I just want to be remembered as a hard-working person who works hard and gives her all, every day.”
