BILLINGS — Georgia Gwinnett College is 1,799 miles from Missoula. Four years ago, to then-Missoula Big Sky freshman Sadie McGuinn, a college softball career seemed even further away than that.
“Honestly, that freshman year, I didn’t really want to play college softball,” McGuinn said on the eve of the Eagles’ 2025 softball opener. “Or anything, at the beginning, at least.”
Last season, though, was a breakout year for the Big Sky second baseman. Though things began to go her way in her sophomore season — and thoughts of a post-high school career began to take form — McGuinn really announced her presence as a junior.
She batted .434 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs last year, and she’ll be among the top returning Class AA hitters this season.
It helped McGuinn’s production that the Eagles had a dynamic offense last season. Among McGuinn’s teammates were seniors Grace Hood, Brooke Schaffer and Delaney Laird, all three of whom are playing college ball themselves now.
McGuinn’s fellow juniors included Irene Griswold, who has plans to play at Eastern Oregon, and two-time first-team all-stater Kyler Latrielle, who has multiple college offers but is yet undecided on where to play, according to coach Trevor Sudith.
Any combination of those players seemed to be on base whenever McGuinn, batting in the sixth spot, came to the plate. More times than not, as evidenced by her 40 RBIs in just 76 at-bats, McGuinn found a way to get a lot of those baserunners home.
Her 11 home runs nearly tripled her total in her first two seasons when she combined for just four round-trippers.
“She’s extremely strong, not only physically but mentally,” said Subith, who is entering his fifth season with the Eagles. “She had a rough freshman year; she didn’t do great. She had an OK sophomore year. I would say she was starting to produce, and she stuck with it. She wasn’t a blue-chip kid coming in here.”
Besides her four varsity seasons of softball, McGuinn has four varsity basketball seasons and two varsity volleyball seasons on her resume. Add the fact that she CrossFit trains after school several days a week, transitioning those to early-morning workouts in the summer, it’s easy to see she’s no stranger to hard work.
McGuinn attributes her growing success to her increased strength and an attentive coaching staff.
“They work a lot with us and definitely care a lot about how we do,” McGuinn said. “Obviously, they care about if we’re winning, but they also care about if each person is doing well for themselves. So, they have a lot to do with our success.”
McGuinn’s individual success led her to commit to Georgia Gwinnett College, an NAIA school located in Lawrenceville. Having started in 2013, the Grizzlies are a relatively young program. But they’ve been tremendously successful under Kat Ihlenburg, the only coach the program has had.
GGC has won three consecutive Continental Athletic Conference championships and has made nine national tournament appearances since 2015. They have been to the NAIA World Series four times, including each of the past two seasons, with a semifinal showing in 2019 being the program’s high point.
Only two players on the Grizzlies’ roster hail from west of the Mississippi River, and that includes a player whose Louisiana hometown lays on the river’s west bank. So, McGuinn will have a lot of adjusting to do.
McGuinn isn’t the type to back away from a challenge, though. Subith said McGuinn plays with a chip on her shoulder and is one of those players that when she’s on your team, that’s great. Someone on the opposing side, however, might find her tough to take.
McGuinn gets that.
“I’m a very competitive person,” she said with a bit of self-awareness in her voice, “so I can see how other people don’t like playing against me. But personally, I think I’m a great teammate. I like to cheer on all my friends and stuff like that.”
How much will McGuinn and the Eagles have to cheer about this year? Yes, they lost a big part of their offense on a team that won 20 games last season, finishing 1-2 at state. And maybe McGuinn won’t be able to top her numbers of last season.
McGuinn counters that the young players the Eagles will rely on have talent, and that the returning players are good leaders who welcome and try to empower their newer players.
“It’s just a good vibe this year,” she said. “I’m really excited to see how this goes.”
No matter how the senior season goes for McGuinn, she’s come a long way. And there’s still a lot of distance in front of her.
"I think the sky's the limit for her," Subith said. "Any kid who is at that level, you're not talking about people you have to be on and a crack-the-whip type situation. These are self-motivated kids. I think she's just going to continue to grow."
