Softball star set to take sweet swing south

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This article was published 30/03/2011 (5371 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Makensy Payne has earned the nickname “Crash.” The 17-year-old student from Transcona has suffered a concussion, broken fingers, and smashed her nose while playing fast pitch softball.

She describes herself as a “super aggressive player” and that style of play has earned her the opportunity to play at Dodge City Junior College in Kansas in the fall and an invite to tryout with Canada’s national junior team.

This summer she’ll be playing her second season with the Smitty’s Terminators 93s in the Manitoba Ladies Super Softball League. In her first season of midget ball, she hit .444 over an 18-game schedule and topped the league in both runs scored and stolen bases.

Including tournaments, she played 56 games and hit .387.

The Dodge City offer came after Payne and a team of top young players from Manitoba attended a tournament  in Las Vegas called the Triple Crown Showcase. College scouts from across the US were there to evaluate the talent. Payne received an “All-American” award for her play in one game and caught the eye of several scouts.

“The coaches from Dodge City made an effort to watch and speak to me and I really liked their philosophy,” Payne said when explaining why she chose the Kansas college. “Danielle Kitchen from the Lightning midgets also will be going to Dodge City.”

Payne plays both second base and shortstop while Kitchen plays second and some third base. Dodge City could end up with a Manitoba double play combination.

Payne started playing softball at Oxford Heights/Park City Community Club in Transcona when she was five years old. She moved to Smitty’s after peewee in order to play under coach Haylee (Rempel) O’Neill, who she credits for her development as a player over the past four years. O’Neill, who attended Simon Fraser University on a softball scholarship, is Softball Manitoba’s master learning facilitator.

An all-around athlete, Payne will graduate from College Pierre Elliot Trudeau this summer where she played varsity basketball and volleyball. She also is a goalie for the Angels under-19 ringette team that lost in the provincial semi finals in late February.