Growing up with a background in agriculture and a strong support system taught Mazie and Makenzie Macfarlane the value of a strong work ethic, dedication and humility, which has propelled the sisters to their success as student-athletes at Utah State University (USU).
Both girls are currently in their senior year at the university, with Mazie studying environmental studies and Makenzie studying kinesiology and minoring in psychology. They are also key players on USU’s softball team, having committed to the school early on during their freshman year in high school and receiving full-ride scholarships to play.
Both Mazie and Makenzie agreed a strong support system at home and growing up with the responsibility of caring for their own show cattle were some of the main drivers in giving their full commitment to the sport.
“The biggest thing that I think motivated us was that nothing was going to get done for us and we had to work for what we wanted,” Makenzie told WLJ. “If we wanted to be successful, whether it was with cattle or playing softball, we had to put in the work, and we obviously saw that through our dad a lot,” she said, speaking of their dad, Matt Macfarlane.
Matt is the representative for the California Cattlemen Magazine; owns and operates a sale management business, M3 Marketing; and runs a small herd of Simmental cows with various partners.
Makenzie continued, “He works really hard in everything he does and he doesn’t really do anything half-heartedly. So that motivated us to put in 100% effort with all that we could do.”
Around seventh grade, Mazie and Makenzie became aware that full dedication to the sport of softball was needed if they wanted to be serious about committing to play in college. Their hard work paid off when Mazie and Makenzie received a total of six scholarship offers to the same schools, and an additional two each to different schools.
“We made a decision to dedicate ourselves to the sport, which meant cattle and horses were going to take a back seat moving forward, but they were never away from agriculture,” Matt said.
They said they chose USU in particular because they could still be connected to agriculture while being there to play softball. They still enjoy talking with others about their roots in the cattle business and helping their dad on occasion with some of the sales he manages nearby in Utah.
Along with being members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Mazie and Makenzie have received several honors throughout their time at USU, each receiving the Mountain West Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Mountain West honors, and Mazie additionally receiving the All-Mountain West honor.
Mazie was the only USU Aggie to start in all 56 games, playing center field for every appearance and leading off in all but one game. Makenzie plays as catcher and recently slid into the No. 1 slot in the NCAA for throwing out base runners.
The path to success hasn’t been easy and there has been adversity along the way, including Mazie dealing with an injury this year.
“With my injury, at the beginning it was really hard, but the way I grew up helped with putting in the work to get healthy,” Mazie told WLJ. “I was prepared to go to PT (physical therapy) every day, and I’m still doing PT every day. Just having the grind mentality that my dad has and how we had growing up has really helped with that.”
Although the move from their hometown of Rocklin, CA, to the college town of Logan, UT, was a big one, the twins say they were well-equipped to handle the competitiveness of a D1 softball team. One of the main things they noticed in moving away to college was being able to notice the difference between those who worked hard while growing up, and those who were used to having things handed to them.
“That’s where I was really grateful for the way we were brought up, and I still am grateful for that, with some things we’re dealing with our team right now,” Makenzie said.
Mazie agreed, saying, “The sacrifices my dad made for us when we were little, growing up and everything, really helped us in the transition from California because we realized what we had to do in order to be successful.”
In turn, Matt said, “The girls pushed each other every day. It didn’t take a lot of extra pushing from me, especially as teenagers. They’ve always been driven, they’ve always been competitive, but they’ve always remained humble. They’ve made me so proud of the people they’ve become.”
Makenzie said softball is a game of failure, and if you succeed three out of 10 times, you’re considered successful. “I just feel like that sets you up more for the workforce because you’re going to fail at some point, no matter what you do in life. So if I already know I’m going to fail eight times out of 10, what am I going to do? I’m going to try harder on that ninth time.”
Mazie and Makenzie both credit a lot of their success to their support system back home, which includes their dad and stepmother, Heather, and their mom, Michelle.
“They’re really just there to support us,” Mazie said. “They don’t care if we do well in a game. It’s just nice to have a balance for everything.”
It is clear that Makenzie and Mazie, like many children of agriculture, have a lot of humility for where they came from. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
