Mackenzie Dolan’s first season at East Mississippi wasn’t the one she had in mind when she signed with the Lady Lions.
Before she ever got on campus, the coach who signed her got fired and several of the players on the team left.
Then Dolan, who was one of the area’s leading hitters as a senior at Union, struggled at the plate to start the season.
But Dolan hung with it and and led the Lady Lions in several offensive categories and was named to the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges all-state second team.
“It didn’t go as great as I thought it would,” Dolan said. “It was actually a pretty rough situation with the coach getting fired. We didn’t have all the recruits we were supposed to because some of them just left or didn’t come. We were kind of thin in some areas. And we lost a lot of close game that we were supposed to win. We just couldn’t hold it together and finish off those games.”
And Dolan struggled at the plate to start the season but says she finally got going. After a three-hit contest in a 7-0 at Northwest, Dolan got going and finished the year hitting safely in 13 of 14 contests.
“It was a lot different that high school ball,” Dolan said. “It just all hits you at one time that you have to step up and do better. I was really down on myself that it wasn’t going like I wanted to and I wasn’t hitting the ball. I didn’t have a lot of confidence but just told myself I had to stay with it and continue to work.
Dolan, who caught all but one of East Mississippi’s 33 games played, led the 2019 Lady Lions in home runs (5), RBIs (38), doubles (7), total bases (53) and stolen bases (13) while hitting .305 on the year. Defensively behind the plate, the former MAC All-Star who was tabbed to The Meridian Star’s 2018 Premier Preps softball team as a high school senior, threw out 14 would-be base stealers for EMCC this past season. Dolan also posted a .558 slugging percentage with 13 extra-base hits in addition to scoring 17 runs.
“Mackenzie has one of the best arms as a catcher in our conference and she proved that all year long by consistently throwing out runners from behind the plate,” head coach Austin McNair noted. “Her knowledge of the game plays a big role in her ranking as one of the better all-around catchers in the MACJC.”
Dolan said she’s glad she stayed with the program and is playing with several of her teammates this summer as she prepares for the upcoming season.
“We’ve got a good many sophomores coming back,” Dolan said. “We got a lot of playing experience last year and we’ve got a good group of recruits coming in. I am glad I stayed. It didn’t turn out like I thought it would but I think it’s going to be a lot better next season.”
Dolan said she hasn’t been contacted about playing anywhere after East Mississippi but hopes to get an offer. If not, Dolan says she will begin to work on her degree to become a physical therapy assistant.
