The RoundHouse | 5/3/2018 9:55:00 AM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
Kenny Wright coached his daughter's softball team until it no longer worked. Too much conflict.
 
"When I played for my dad, I took advantage of it . . . I thought I could act how I wanted, because my dad was my coach," Mackenzie Wright said. "Me and my dad would fight the whole time."
 
Dad saw his daughter's athletic ability and her love for softball. She needed a fresh voice to get the most out of her talents. Kenny Wright found a new coach for his daughter, 10, in former Oklahoma outfielder Kristin Vesely.
 
"I heard that she was strict and didn't take any crap," Kenny Wright said. "I took her to Ves and said 'If you can fix her, fix her.' She changed her attitude around. She's played ever since."
 
Played, homered, yelled, robbed hits, appeared on ESPN's top plays – four years of highlights, dirty uniforms, eye black and an academic rise that thrills her coach. Wichita State senior third baseman Mackenzie Wright is wrapping up a Shocker career that hit full speed after she dropped the anger. As a youngster, she fumed after losses or strikeouts or errors. 
 
 "I would get so mad and I would pout," she said. "It's not fun when you do that. I realized the importance of being a good teammate. Everyone needs someone to go to during a game. I want to be that person."
 
She matured in high school at Carl Albert in Midwest City, Okla. At Wichita State, she grew into a leader known for energy and enthusiasm. When the Shockers are down, she agitates for change. When she leads off with a double, she's talking and clapping as she reaches second base.
 
"She's the fire within our team," senior outfielder Paige Luellen said. "She comes in the dugout and yells 'Let's shut the door.' She screams in the dugout. She screams in the locker room. She's always yelling."
 
Her dad got her started. 
 
"She was softball from 5 years old," Kenny Wright said. "Her (older) sister got on a team and Mackenzie cried because she wasn't on it. We talked them into letting her on the team, too. 
She was softball from 5 years old."
 
Vesely helped her through those early years when Mackenzie Wright grew numb to her father's instructions. Vesely, who is in her second season as coach at Houston, provided that new direction. Wright didn't like the switch at the time. Now she realizes playing for Vesely kept her softball career alive.
 
"I was scared to mess up in front of her," Mackenzie Wright said. "When a coach is yelling at you, that means they care. I felt like she was picking on me, almost. Then, I realized it was because she wanted me to be better."
 
Shocker coach Kristi Bredbenner pushed her through a challenging freshman year and into annual improvements. Wright, from Midwest City, Okla., earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors at third base as a freshman and junior. As a sophomore, she earned second-team All-MVC honors and a spot on the All-Defensive Team as a catcher. 
 
 She enters this weekend's series at South Florida hitting .384 with 35 runs, nine doubles, four home runs and a .550 slugging percentage.
 
"In so many capacities, she's evolved into one of the best players that's ever played here," Bredbenner said. "But, also one of the most improved student-athletes. Her grades her freshman year were not very good. Now she strives to get all A's. She's taking pride in being a well-rounded student-athlete."
 
Her offensive statistics pop, especially in American Athletic Conference games. She is hitting .483 – tops in the conference – with four home runs in 18 games. 
 
Bredbenner has always loved her defense at third. Wright loves the fast-twitch reactions required to play that spot and loves gunning the softball to first base after a diving stop. 
 
"She makes plays nobody else does," Bredbenner said. "She likes third base because there's a chance every batter that she can make a great play."
 
At Nebraska in 2016, Wright threw out a runner from her knees after making a diving stop to end a 2-1 victory, a play judged worthy of ESPN's top 10 plays that day. Kenny Wright is a Boston Red Sox fan, so his daughter grew up admiring second baseman Dustin Pedroia's highlights.
 
"I've always loved defense more than hitting," Wright said. "A good defensive play is more exciting than a home run."
 
Wright started 56 games and hit .359 with 18 steals as a freshman. Bredbenner, however, told her she wasn't getting the most out of her talents. She was used to coasting on her athletic ability. She played up in age groups as a youngster, which Bredbenner suspects helped develop softball skills, but slowed her maturity as a leader.
 
She told Wright her talent would go to waste without a better work ethic. That was something of a theme for much of the roster in the 2015 season, which Bredbenner calls a disappointment after winning the MVC title in 2014.
 
"I don't know that during her freshman year I'd be saying these same things about her," Bredbenner said. "Her and I had a lot of meetings."
 
Bredbenner wanted more effort and concentration at practice. They talked about grades, as well. Things got better as a sophomore and then significantly better in her final two seasons. Wright isn't one to spend hours in the batting cage after practice; she did learn to get the most out of practice. Now Bredbenner considers her a role model for the enthusiasm and effort she wants.
 
"Her exuberance, her love for the game, is contagious," Bredbenner said. "I feel it's the catalyst for our success this year. She's got the dirtiest uniform, because she's not afraid to dive, to slide, to go hard, to give you 100 percent."
 
The Shockers (29-18, 11-7 American) end the regular season at first-place South Florida (34-19, 12-6) with a series starting Friday. Wichita State needs two wins to tie for the regular-season title and three to win it outright. A series win also strengthens Wichita State's NCAA regional resume. It entered the week No. 31 in the NCAA's RPI rankings.
 
That puts the Shockers in position to return to the NCAAs for the first time since 2016. Wichita State won six of its past seven games, a streak started by win over Oklahoma State and highlighted by a doubleheader sweep of Central Florida on two game-ending home runs.
 
"We have such great chemistry this year," Wright said. "We all believe in each other. We all believe we can get it done." 
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.