THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505050171
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
IT'S TOUGH TO get Marni Magyar to take a compliment.
Tell her she played a great game, and you'll hear about everything her teammates did. Ask Magyar how she got to be such a talented catcher, and she'll give credit to her coach or her parents.
Although she has started for the Great Bridge High School softball team for four years and earned numerous awards - including selection to the All-State team as a junior - Magyar insists that she hasn't really done anything special.
``She doesn't look at herself as being anything out of the ordinary,'' said Wildcats coach Noble Palmer. ``But believe me, she's extraordinary.''
Magyar wasn't exactly wild about the idea of playing softball when she first took up the sport recreationally in the second grade.
``My mom dragged me out to a tee-ball field,'' she said. ``The first year I didn't like it, but I started to the second.''
It didn't take long for softball to catch. At 12, Magyar started playing for the Chesapeake Firecrackers, a slow-pitch tournament team. When she was 16, she switched to Tidewater Lady Tides summer team and has played there for the past two years.
When it came time for Magyar to try out for the high school team, she wasn't even sure she had the talent to earn a spot on the Wildcats' roster. So she came up with a way to better her chances.
``When I tried out my freshman year I tried out for catcher, because I knew that would be an easy way to make the team,'' Magyar said.
She started as a freshman, even though it was her first exposure to fast-pitch softball.
``It was really rough. I was the only catcher, and I didn't know what was going on,'' Magyar said. ``I made every mistake in the book, every mistake you could possibly make.''
Palmer, whom Magyar credits with turning her around, disagrees.
``Marni's never been bad. From the first time I saw her, there was never a doubt she was a catcher,'' he said. ``It was just something about the way she handled herself - the look in her eyes, the way she caught the ball, her stance.
``It was as plain as the nose on her face.''
What happened last year to Magyar was a surprise to no one but herself.
She led Great Bridge in 17 offensive categories, including a .517 batting average as the Wildcats' leadoff hitter. Magyar earned All-District selection for the second straight year.
Next, Magyar was voted to the All-Tidewater team, and after the Wildcats won the Eastern Region title, she was named to the All-Region team as well.
Great Bridge made it to the state semifinals, losing 2-0 to eventual champion Midlothian in eight innings. Magyar went home thinking the season was over.
But there was one more award in the works.
A little while later, Palmer ``called and told me I had made All-State,'' Magyar said. ``I couldn't believe it. I started crying. It was a real big surprise.''
``She deserved it. The bigger the games, the bigger Marni plays,'' Palmer said. ``This is a kid who is tough. I've seen her have a bone pop out of her leg and she just bends down and pops it back in.''
Magyar has a chronic leg injury, where her fibula pops out of joint on the outside of her knee.
``I just pop it back in and it's fine. It's nothing major,'' she said. ``It hasn't bothered me in a while.''
At 10-2 on the season, fourth-ranked Great Bridge is making a run for a return trip to the state tournament. Standing in its way is No. 1 Western Branch, and the two teams will square off Tuesday on the Wildcats' home field.
Lately, Magyar has been in a batting slump.
``For the past few weeks I've been batting third, and that's when I went into the slump,'' she said. Palmer has since moved Magyar back to her normal leadoff position. ``I don't know if that (batting third) was the reason; it was probably just one of those psychological things.''
A win over the Bruins would still leave Great Bridge in second place in the district. But after dropping the first meeting between the two, 4-3, the Wildcats feel they have something to prove.
``We had a really bad first inning in that game, and they scored four runs,'' Magyar said. ``Western Branch is our biggest rival by far. In these games, you never really know which way it's going to go. There's usually one thing that decides it . . . one good catch or one good hit.''
Whichever way that game plays out, Magyar is winding down her softball career. She plans on attending James Madison University, which doesn't field a team, so one of the most decorated softball players in the history of Great Bridge High School will soon be hanging up her cleats.
``I don't know that in four years she's missed a day of practice. She never complains about anything, she just does it,'' Palmer said. ``But she deserves all the credit for her success.
``I just happened to luck into something special.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Catcher Marni Magyar has started for the Great Bridge High School
softball team for four years.
by CNB