A Conversation with Coach Sophie Maccarone: More Than Just A Game

In this Cardinal Perspectives conversation, Sharon “Cherie” Sabini, an English major at The Catholic University of America (Class of 2026), sits down with Sophie Maccarone—an alumna and head softball coach at Catholic University—to discuss her journey as a student-athlete, the challenges facing women’s sports, and what sets the Cardinals’ athletics program apart.

A former four-year member of the softball team, Maccarone played in 77 games before graduating in 2021. She returned as a graduate assistant coach for the 2022–23 season, helping guide the team to a 23–17 record. In 2023, she stepped into the role of head coach, quickly making her mark.

Under her leadership, the Cardinals had a standout 2024 season, tying the program record with 28 wins. Maccarone’s team secured the No. 2 seed in the Landmark Conference Tournament with a 10–6 conference record, while multiple players earned All-Region and All-Landmark honors—a testament to Maccarone’s impact on the program.

Beyond Catholic University, Maccarone has served as a head softball instructor, softball coordinator, and strength and conditioning Coach at Bradley Baseball Academia in Reston, Virginia. Her experience also includes roles in athletic marketing and event operations with American University and D.C. United (Major League Soccer). 

From record-breaking seasons to player development, Maccarone’s influence on the program is undeniable. But for her, this is just the beginning. In this conversation with Cherie Sabini, she reflects on her Cardinal journey and shares her vision for the future of softball and women’s athletics.

To listen to the full interview, click here for the audio version.

Cherie Sabini
Sophie, you started your Catholic University journey as a student-athlete yourself. Can you tell us about your time at the University as a student and as an athlete?

Sophie Maccarone
During high school, I loved sports. I played soccer, basketball, and softball. Honestly, softball was my least favorite during that time, but I stuck with it. I actually didn't go through the recruiting process. I just applied to a bunch of schools that I wanted to go to and narrowed it down to the ones that had softball. When I got into Catholic University, I reached out to the coach, was able to try out, and made the team.

It was the best decision I made. I have friends and roommates who still live here in D.C. with me today. I also knew that I wanted to do something in sports. Having connections through the business school, through D.C. United and the Nats, and other organizations in the city allowed me to get where I am today. Not to mention being able to stay at the University and coach, which is awesome.

Cherie Sabini
That's such an interesting path of starting here as a student-athlete. In your opinion, what life lessons do you think sports – specifically collegiate sports – teach student-athletes?

Sophie Maccarone
One that I was always taught growing up is, hard work pays off. You never know who's watching. That was my motto, coming into Catholic University. It’s what I tell the players today.

There are other simple lessons, like treat others how you want to be treated and support each other. We're a team of 24 people, but there are only nine or ten people who play at a time. If you're playing second base and there are two girls behind you who don't play as much, encourage them. They're your biggest supporters too.

Cherie Sabini
What would you say was the hardest setback or roadblock you experienced, specifically being a woman in college athletics?

Sophie Maccarone
When it comes to women's athletics, it’s grown so much, even since I was a freshman. There's this new phenomenon that says, “everybody watches women's sports.” It's really awesome to see that because we're getting so much more support.

Here’s a perfect example: When I played here, we had a dirt and grass field. If it rained one day, you wouldn't be able to play on it for three days. That was a setback, and other collegiate female athletes probably had to deal with similar issues, or deal with getting less than other sports teams. But right now, we're in the process of completing a turf field project. And, we have lights! So, I think it’s on the rise.

Women's sports in general are getting more. Think about Caitlin Clark and what she's been doing for women’s sports. In our world of softball, there’s a Women’s College World Series stadium in Oklahoma. A D1 softball team just built a new stadium, and they're getting awesome recruits. So, while there are some setbacks, I think there's so much good that is coming from them, and only more good things to come, too.

Cherie Sabini
You mentioned the way that women’s sports are moving forward. Do you think that there are still any challenges in terms of visibility and support that particularly softball faces?

Sophie Maccarone
Yes. There's no real professional softball after collegiate softball. They have started to create some leagues, but there's no equivalent to the MLB, and maybe that deters people from playing softball – that there's not as much to do after college.

On the youth side, there's a lack of support, and that's something that I'm trying to get into. There's a lot of baseball, and girls playing baseball, which is good, but then they turn to softball and they don't know as much. I’m helping to teach them and get them into that realm of softball while I'm also coaching here, which is really cool. And it's ultimately going to benefit us because we're going to get players who know what to do and who already have all of those skills.

Cherie Sabini
That's really awesome. Could you talk a little bit about those programs that you're involved in with you?

Sophie Maccarone
We've been going to Washington Nationals Youth Academy to do work with them and teach them basic skills like throwing, catching, and hitting. We also get into softball-specific things like pitching underhand, how we baserun, and what you can take a lead on.

Personally, I'm also helping a local travel organization called DMV Dream Softball that helps girls in the area who don't have as many resources to play softball. Their team and the coach help them get visibility and go to tournaments. A lot of the dads (and coaches) played baseball. So for me, it’s cool to teach (the dads) a little bit about how we play our game, because everyone plays the game differently. You can have bunts, you can power-hitters… There are a bunch of different strategies you can do. So, just teaching them the things that we do here.

Cherie Sabini
Turning back to Catholic University, what would you say makes this University and its athletic program unique?

Sophie Maccarone
One unique thing that Catholic University does within athletics is that we will support any major. For example, I have a bunch of athletes who are in very hard majors, and they're still able to compete in a Division III sport. A lot of Division III universities won't allow that, especially for majors like nursing and architecture.

But, Catholic University Athletics will let us take on anyone who wants to pursue the demanding majors. In turn, it's really awesome because the students are getting to do what they want academically, while playing a sport they love. There's so much more buy-in because they are able to pursue their dreams in both ways.

Cherie Sabini
What is one of the most important lessons or concepts you've used from being a student-athlete and bringing that now to your position as a coach on the team?

Sophie Maccarone
I always talk about hard work, and I always talk about kindness. You never know who you're going to bring back, or who you're going to be brought back to. Especially for me, I went to school here, I played on the softball team, and then I came back and coached with people who I was very close to already.

But also, with having fun, wanting to win, and being persistent. Last year we had a motto, last punch. We were always giving the last punch and leaving it all out on the field. This year our motto is, playing our own game. We're not worried about everyone else, we're playing our game. It’s working well for us right now.

Cherie Sabini
Yeah, the record looks awesome so far. Congratulations, by the way.

Sophie Maccarone
We’re only four games in, but we got a long stretch of 10 games next week. So we’re putting it to the test and seeing everything we got.

Cherie Sabini
What changes have you already tried to implement as a coach, or do you hope to create in the program during your time as head coach?

Sophie Maccarone
We've been trying to work our mindset of playing. We're a competitive Division III team and we've been in the conference tournament probably every year that I've been here, but we want to be fighting for the number one spot every single year.

Also, changing how the team interacts with each other at practice, and how we do practices, in general. I’m focused on learning the team. I discovered that they really like to know what's going on. So for me, that means sending practice plans every single day saying, this is what we're going to do.

We’ve made small changes, and we talk about it all the time, how doing little things helps you get better. Things as simple as being on time for practice and wearing the right color shirt to practice are only going to help them in their lives and in the working world. You need to be on time to work, and some jobs have uniforms, so you have to wear the right thing and do the right thing. Every little thing matters.

Cherie Sabini
Similarly to that, how do you create an environment that fosters both athletic and personal growth for your players?

Sophie Maccarone
Softball, as well as baseball, is a game of failure. You're going to fail more times and you're going to succeed. For my team, it’s important to foster growth both athletically and personally, through failure.

We talk about failure all the time, and how it’s really about what you learn and how you grow from it, and in turn, seeing that mindset in everyday life. We all have things happen outside of practice. People mess up in school, or their jobs or internships. We work through it and learn from those things.

My team loves to win, but it’s important to understand that it's okay to fail. That's how you're going to grow the most. Like you said, right now, we're 4-0. We're winning, but there are still things we've been working to get better. It's really good to say, okay, we made errors on Saturday. What can we do better? And watching that back with them, walking through it, and seeing what we can learn and how we can grow from that.

Cherie Sabini
Why do you believe that women's athletics should be highlighted specifically at the D3 college level?

Sophie Maccarone
I'm a strong believer that Division III is awesome. It’s great because you get to be your whole person. You're doing school, you're doing softball. You're able to do clubs, internships, intramurals, really anything and everything.

Yes, Division III is a lot of time. We're practicing six days a week in-season, if we're not playing games midweek. We travel to games, we stay over. But for me, it was one of the best times. Here, you have a full schedule. You can go to class, do softball, you have to do your homework at a certain time. You're spending so many hours with these 24 people. You're just becoming one whole person and just not focusing on hitting and throwing 100% of your day.

Cherie Sabini
Do you have a memorable moment or experience from your coaching career that you feel like exemplifies some of the strength or resilience of women in sports?

Sophie Maccarone
One moment that stands out to me was last year at my first conference doubleheader. We were playing one of our biggest rivals and I was so nervous.

They scored first, and I was like, oh no. But we showed the fight, we came back. We scored two runs and won that game. Then, we had a second game. I didn't know what to do so I decided to give a freshman a start. The same thing happened – they scored first. But we came back, 1-1. We got to seven innings and it was still 1-1. We went all the way to the ninth inning, one of my seniors hit a walk-off home run, and we won the game. The freshman pitched all nine innings.

That was my biggest moment. It was the first time we swept our rival in program history. My freshman got pitcher of the week, that week, with nine innings. It was something I'll always remember.

Cherie Sabini
What advice would you give to young girls who dream of playing collegiate softball or just pursuing a career in women's sports in general?

Sophie Maccarone
On the softball side, I would say just be persistent. Keep working, keep doing the little things. Everyone's going to find their place. You're going to land where you should play and where you should be. Like I said, when I was looking at colleges, I wasn't really in the recruiting process, but I knew that I was going to find a school that felt like home.

Same thing on the career side. When I graduated in 2021, there was a female executive in the MLB and a bunch of other women in higher positions, so there were a lot of women wanting to get jobs in sports. That made it a little bit harder, but it's just about being persistent. Maybe you need to apply to ten jobs. Maybe you need to take an internship until the job comes around that you want. I thought I wanted to work in professional sports, and I ended up back here. This is just where I was meant to be.

More information

Sophie Maccarone is more than a coach—she is a role model for women in collegiate athletics and beyond, inspiring others to pursue their passions with dedication and resilience.

If you would like to support Catholic University Softball, consider making a donation through our online giving page. Or, show your support by cheering on the Cardinals at a home game this season! Visit the Catholic University Athletics website for the full schedule.