University of Southern Mississippi softball player Madeline Rae Moody is making a name for herself not just on the field, but throughout the Hattiesburg community. Born and raised in Magee, softball has always been central to the Kinesiology major’s life.
“It was always in my mind,” Moody said. “Softball doesn’t end at high school, and I was dead set on that. I’m actually the fourth in my family to go to Southern, so that was always in my mind, like I want to play in college, and I want to go to Southern. Whenever Coach Savannah gave me an opportunity, I was a junior when I committed here, I’ll never regret that.”
Moody was recently named the recipient of the Community Impact Award.
“I didn’t even know that that was even an award,” she said. “I saw that this was the first year that they did this award, and I was like wow! This is awesome cause you know, we see, as athletes so many times people get recognized for sports and people get recognized for their batting average or their fielding averages But to me, it’s really about the impact I leave on people and what can I do to better, not just myself, but my teammates, and what I can do to help the community that we’re here serving. I honestly could have cried. My grandmother was all excited, and it was just everywhere I walked around, people were like, ‘I saw your face, I saw your pictures!’ Just being able to see that I made a difference somewhere was just truly amazing to me.”
Moody has participated in a variety of meaningful initiatives, including Read Across America, Suicide Awareness Month activities, the Trick or Treat at the Pete on-campus event, and canned goods drives for the USM Food Pantry. Her success has evolved throughout her collegiate career.
“I didn’t have the career that I hoped for on the field, but I can look back and say I was successful,” she said. “I got my degree; I have impacted little kids’ lives. I impacted my teammates’ lives, I did so many things that I never would have thought I would have accomplished, so my perspective of success has 100% changed from statistic-wise to there are bigger things in life than sports, it’s what you leave on people.”
As Moody moves beyond the field, she leaves behind a culture of service and community impact that will resonate long after her final play.
