Cardinal Perspectives Softball Coach Sophie Maccarone

Welcome to Cardinal Perspectives, a series featuring in-depth conversations with alumni, students, faculty, staff and the extended family and community of The Catholic University of America.

We are pleased to introduce this episode featuring Sophie Maccarone, head softball coach, and Tyra Wilson, advancement coordinator for Athletics.

Sophie Maccarone became the first full-time head softball coach at Catholic University in 2023. In just her second season at the helm, she guided the Cardinals to historic success, including the first 30-win season in program history and multiple team and individual honors in the Landmark Conference.

The Cardinals followed that achievement by matching the program record for wins the next season, while several student-athletes earned All-Region and All-Landmark accolades – a testament to her leadership and commitment to excellence on the field.

A 2021 Catholic University graduate and former four-year Cardinal outfielder, Maccarone returned to her alma mater after serving as a graduate assistant coach where she helped the team to a 23-17 record and a spot in the conference tournament. Her passion for the game and dedication to developing student-athletes both on and off the field define her dynamic leadership of the Cardinals softball program.

*This transcript is based on an audio recording and has been lightly edited for readability. It reflects the substance of the conversation but may not be a verbatim record.

Tyra 
My name is Tyra Wilson with University Advancement. Today I'm sitting with Coach Maccarone, the head women's softball coach. Hi, Sophie.

Sophie
Hi Tyra. How are you?

Tyra
I'm good.

Sophie
Good.

Tyra
All right. We're going to jump right into these questions. You're starting your third season at Catholic University. Is there any particular moment that stands out to you from your time here?

Sophie
I’m very fortunate to be able to coach here and go into my third season. Over the past two years, we've had a lot of moments on the field and in the classroom. One particular moment that stands out to me – it was probably one of the most exciting moments for me as coach, but also for the players, was when we swept Susquehanna on our field.

It was awesome. We haven't swept Susquehanna or won two games against them in a really long time.  It was an amazing feeling. It was our first conference game of my first year coaching here, so it was a really special moment that I will never forget.

The year later, we had another really special moment when we swept Moravian for the first time in program history. So just to see us beating Susquehanna twice, and then last year, our last conference doubleheader of the season, we beat Moravian twice. Those are two really special moments. And I'm looking forward to a lot more this season, too.

Tyra
It sounds like right from the start of your first season, you ushered in unprecedented levels of success.

Moving on, we all know about the Diamond Project, which is the restructuring and new construction of our baseball and softball fields here, and the phase for the upgrade to the turf and lights has recently completed. If you can just speak a little to what impact that project has on the current team and your program as a whole?

Sophie 
My first year here, we got a little taste of the lights. They were put in before the turf, so we got to use them a little bit, but not too much. Last year when the turf was put in, we were really excited because now it's all coming together.

This is going to be our first season playing with turf and lights. We have plenty of home games. Until the middle of March, we're playing at home, which is awesome. Especially with daylight savings and playing later. That means we can be on our field whenever we want.

It's just a huge upgrade. I remember when I was a student here, we couldn't get on our field because it was dirt and grass until probably after spring break. Now, we're starting practice on Saturday, and we're going to be on our turf. It's a big upgrade for us.

We get to be as a team more. We're not hitting in the back gym. We get to come together as a full team, which I think is going to help us excel even more because you need that team cohesion in softball, and we're going to get it right from the start.

We're really fortunate to have that and I'm super excited.

Tyra
Not to mention actually having your home games at home. You have a little more home advantage. Going more into what your vision is for the program as a whole, what are your hopes for the team's development and success under your leadership?

Sophie
My number one goal is to win the Conference, of course. And that's a lot of other teams goals here, and those who are winning the Conference want to go on to Regionals and go even further.

I think my overall goal for the team is to win the Conference, but getting the team together, getting them to grow together and learn skills that can help them when softball is done, too.

Like I said, I really want to win. I love to win. We haven't won the Conference since 2014, and what better year to do it than in our first year on our turf.

But also I like to grow them as individuals and let them gain skills from practice, from games, from the drills that we do. We'll do many things in the locker room together, like watch film and talk about it, or do little drills to help them visualize hitting and visualize fielding and pitching, so they're more confident and comfortable when they're on the field and they feel less pressure.

Just to grow them as overall people, that's my real big hope for the team.

Tyra
Absolutely. That's the goal. Every coach here, I believe, wants and is looking more into that, growing the person off their field of play.

Let's turn it a little bit to the connection between alumni and the team. Do you have any story that highlights that feeling?

Sophie
I think one of the best feelings was my first year. I really wanted to do something with the alumni. I have a lot of teammates who are still here in Washington, D.C., which is great. I talked to them and said, “Hey guys, this is my first year. Come out to the football game. I'll give some t-shirts away. We'll just hang, meet my players.” That's also one of the biggest things about players and alumni meeting, because there are so many connections there.

But that was a special moment because I had so many alumni come out to meet, literally near the tent on that first alumni football homecoming game, which was awesome. And now they keep asking me like, “Hey, can we do a player versus alumni game? Can we do a home run derby?”

So they want to come back, which is awesome. And I want to show off our new field and have them come back to see it because they're not going to believe how good it looks. It's really special to be here with many alumni still in the area, and those that want to come back.

Another thing I did in my first year was I would reach out to a bunch of alumni and they would send pictures back of when they played. I got to see what the field looked like many years back. Some of the pictures were black and white. It was just amazing to see the evolution of Catholic University Softball.

Tyra
That's one thing we can say across the board at Catholic, our alumni community, as well as just the current community, is so strong and they're supportive of each other. That's a beautiful story.

I want to turn it back a little bit to the players themselves and the strategies. You mentioned it a little bit, just how you help them to thrive as athletes and individuals. Connected to that, what's most important to you when you're shaping your team culture?

Sophie
On the first day of school in the fall, we'll have a team meeting and talk about our values, what we want to do and what really means a lot to us as a team. We did it again last night in our pre-spring season meeting.

Those things are important to me. Attitude is really important to me. Having a positive attitude. Like I said to them last night, we're going to practice outside. [Even though it’s cold outside,] saying “It's not cold out,” is perfect because then we're having a really good attitude about practice. We're wanting to learn. We're not just thinking, “oh my gosh, it's cold. I don't want to be here.” Having a good attitude at practice.

I try to create a culture of, if you mess up, it's okay, shake it off. We're going to help you get the next one, and help you do better the next time. Those two are really important to me.

Communication's really important to me. We talk about, here in the athletic department, elite communication. But that's something that is a skill that everyone needs to work on, especially on a team. We have a lot of moving parts. We have a lot of equipment. We have people who have classes. We have a lot of people who need other things. So if we're communicating effectively with each other, it's going to make us better overall.

And then I really like motivation, I like trust, I like responsibility. I always talk about if you're playing shortstop, let's say, and there's someone behind you. You want the best for them too. So you want them to succeed and you want to help them, because it's always a battle. You never know who's going to play on game day until the time comes. But you still want to help each other out. You want the best for each other because overall, that'll make the team the best.

Tyra 
I love that. Very much a team minded mindset.

We've gone in and out of this, I think, but if you could just concisely define your long-term vision for Catholic University Softball?

Sophie
My long-term vision and my hope is that we'll be able to host a Conference tournament with new turf.

I can't tell you how many times I've played at Moravian for the Conference tournament. And all I want for this team is to be able to play it here because I know they deserve it and I know they've worked so hard for it.

My also long-term vision is, like I said, to grow them as people. And one thing I do every year is allow them to ask me, “Hey, I have this interview, can you help me with questions? Can you help me with my resume?” We talk about that a lot.

And one moment last year – we did some interview questions with one of my players. The next week she came back to me and said “Sophie, you're not going to believe it. I had an interview and they asked me the same exact question we talked about, and I got the internship.” So that's just a really good feeling besides winning.

You're helping them grow and get jobs, get internships, and I think that's the big goal out of the team, too. Not only winning, not only becoming the high-level, competitive Division III team that we really want to become here, which we are becoming each year. I think we're growing every single year. But becoming a team that’s committed to getting you a job after college, too. It's that Division III mindset as a student-athlete.

Tyra
Absolutely. And I think it all ties together because as you're saying, you've been here three years, so you probably haven't had a full class of your own yet. But already keeping those strong alumni ties, obviously you are helping to cultivate them during their time here. Helping them get those wins, as it were, professionally. They're going to stay connected to this and to you.

In your view, what are the lasting benefits of competing at the collegiate level, and particularly Division III? We hear a lot about D1, but can you speak to that a little bit?

Sophie
I think Division III is special, and that's why I wanted to coach in Division III, because you're shaping the whole person.

Being on a team teaches you so much. It teaches you how to work with people. It teaches you how to resolve conflict or figure out resolutions. Maybe you don't want to work with people or you have trouble working with someone. It teaches you communication and it teaches you how to schedule things out. It teaches you time management, multitasking, doing all of that.

So I think being on a team sets you up really well for the working world too.

Tyra 
That’s so true. I'm going to say it again, especially at Catholic University, we have these strong programs such as our nursing program, our business program, things of that nature. And I think because the emphasis is on education, you see the true balance that you might not see across other divisions.

Something a little fun to talk about: I know your team takes a spring break trip to Florida each year. What's in store for 2026?

Sophie
To be honest, I wanted to get away from the spring break trip, because we have the new turf field and I wanted to show it off for spring break and bring everyone here, but we couldn't get away from it. It's a team favorite every single year.

So we're going to Florida again. We're going to go half spring break, and then we'll come back and play a few games, which will be awesome. That was my solution to this. Nothing can beat the spring break trip playing in the warm weather, playing really good competition.

Everyone in our area goes to Florida. That's the reality of it. People want to go to Florida and play because you're guaranteed games. It's also fun. There's a great team bonding aspect. We stay in a big house together, so we're all together cooking meals. Parents are meeting each other for the first time and getting to know each other, which is beneficial for the rest of the season.

They're the biggest support for us too, besides the alumni. So they're always supporting us, especially in Florida. I have a feeling I'm not going to get away from this Florida trip because it’s just such a fan favorite. And it makes our team stronger and it makes our team better together, too.

Tyra
Who doesn't want that?

Going back to alumni, can you tease out a little bit, what are some of the ways that alumni can support the program?

Sophie
Yeah, of course. This year especially, we're working on doing an alumni event this spring. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do one last year because we weren't at home playing. But this year we're going to be doing an alumni event at one of our Conference doubleheaders. And going to give the alumni the chance to hit on the field, get to meet the players, talk to them, get to meet with each other.

I really want them to be there to see our new field, but to also talk to our players and get to bring back the community of their teams and their teammates that they played together with.

That's really one good way [to get involved]. And then we'll have many more down the road, too.

Tyra
Sophie, thank you so much for your time. I've enjoyed our conversation as always. And to everyone out there, keep an eye out for Catholic Softball.