AU softball welcomes much needed starting pitcher McBrayer

By Chris Rickerson | Sports editor

After losing star pitcher Chloe Wilson in the offseason, Augusta University’s softball team has brought in freshman Maggie McBrayer to bolster the Jaguars’ pitching rotation. 

McBrayer joins Mary Tillman, who was AU’s other starter last spring. Tillman, the senior from Jesup, started 16 games for the Jaguars, with 113 strikeouts and a 3.61 earned-run average.

McBrayer brings much needed relief to the AU starting pitcher corps. She grew up in Calhoun (Ga.) and graduated in 2021 from Calhoun High School, where she played softball and basketball. While McBrayer was talented in both sports, she says her passion is softball. 

“I felt like I was good at basketball, but was not as passionate about it,” said McBrayer. “I feel like my God-given talent was pitching, and I am pretty good at it, I guess.”

McBrayer won many awards and led her high school team to a state championship in her freshman year. She also made the softball all-region second team her freshman year and made the all-region first team her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

In her senior season at Calhoun, she was 13-8 with a 2.17 ERA. She struck out 155 and only walked 35 in 132 innings.

Growing up, McBrayer also played travel softball and was on a team called the Atlanta Vipers. She says enjoyed travel ball because of the competitiveness compared to high school softball. 

“It is way different than high school ball,” said McBrayer. “In travel ball everyone wants to go to college and has the same goal, and it is way more competitive.”

Softball is not the only thing that brought McBrayer to AU. She is majoring in biology and wants to work in the medical field one day. 

“I was originally committed to Georgia Tech my freshman year and realized that wasn’t the best fit for me school-wise,” said McBrayer. “When I met Coach (Melissa) Brocato, she told me that I would be able to go to med school as well as be able to play good softball, so that kind of helped me make the decision.”

Brocato, AU’s softball coach, spoke highly of the 6-foot-1 McBrayer and says she thinks her new pitcher has a lot of potential. 

“With her height, there is so much potential there for pitchers and seeing her play,” said Brocato. “She has great command. She doesn’t really seem to get rattled too much on the field and just goes out there and does her job, and she really has a good presence on the mound.”

McBrayer recently pitched in a couple of fall exhibition games and even though there were some nerves, she thought it went well.

“The first fall game I started I wasn’t sure how it was going to go and what to expect, but now I got two games under my belt, and I know Mary (Tillman) supports me and we both support each other, It’s not as nerve racking,” said McBrayer.

As of now, the Jaguars only have three starting pitchers on the roster in senior Tillman, walk-on Makayla McCarthy (a graduate student from San Diego, Calif.) and McBrayer, who will look to be in one of those starting roles in the upcoming season.

“For us in softball we really have two number ones, a game one starter and a game two starter, and at this point I definitely see her filling one of those roles,” said Brocato.

Along with McBrayer, AU softball has 11 new additions and eight returners rounding out the team. McBrayer says she has many goals in mind while she is at AU and thinks the team may can accomplish one those goals this year. 

“I want to make to regionals and try to compete for a national championship,” said McBrayer. “I feel like this year we have a pretty good chance and a pretty good team.” 

Note: At the top of the page, Maggie McBrayer shows her form on the mound for the Jaguar softball team in a fall exhibition game. (photo by Chris Rickerson)

Contact Chris Rickerson at crickerson@augusta.edu.