Bio

Mackenzie Byrd is in her third season as the head softball coach at East Mississippi Community College and fourth year overall with the program.

After serving as the Lions’ assistant coach during the 2022 season under the guidance of current University of North Alabama assistant coach Whitney Hawkins, Byrd was elevated to interim head softball coach at EMCC prior to the 2023 season. She then had the interim tag removed following the 2023 campaign after the Lions posted their winningest season in five years by recording the program’s most overall wins and most conference victories since the 2018 softball season.

EMCC’s steady rebuilding process continued this past season when the Lions made a five-win improvement from the previous year. The team’s 16 victories a season ago included three conference doubleheader sweeps.

The previous season, EMCC’s freshman-laden 2023 squad opened the MACCC slate with four straight wins and sat at 8-4 in conference play before encountering a challenging season-ending stretch that included three opponents ranked 11th or higher in the NJCAA Division II rankings. All but one of EMCC's final eight MACCC opponents advanced to the 2023 NJCAA Region 23 Tournament, including eventual national championship finalists Copiah-Lincoln and Jones.

Since Byrd, a former Copiah-Lincoln Community College and Alabama State University middle infielder, took over EMCC’s head coaching duties, five players have moved on to compete at the four-year university level.

Off the field under Byrd’s guidance, the Lions continue to maintain the softball program’s notable annual classroom excellence by having earned back-to-back NJCAA All-Academic Team honors, including a fifth-place national academic team ranking this past year with an MACCC-high 3.79 composite grade point average.

Upon graduation from Alabama State in 2020, Byrd moved to Hattiesburg to begin jointly working as an assistant manager for D1 Training and also as a softball instructor for the D-BAT softball academy. Byrd served as a softball instructor and coach for two years while also helping young athletes develop their individual training programs.

Byrd’s softball coaching experience began when she served as a travel ball coach for Next Level Athletics during the summer months throughout her collegiate playing stints at Co-Lin and Alabama State. For five straight summers (2015-19), she was charged with managing practices for an Under-16 travel ball team as well as coordinating the club’s strength and conditioning program.

Following her two seasons at Copiah-Lincoln, Byrd transferred to Montgomery-based Alabama State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. After redshirting the 2018 season, she went on to make 29 total starts during her two-year ASU playing career. As a redshirt junior, Byrd was a member of the Lady Hornets’ 2019 SWAC Tournament Championship team.

Within the classroom at ASU, Byrd was a two-year member of the SWAC All-Academic Team. While completing her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with minors in management and communications, she spent the spring semester of her senior year working as a marketing intern within the Alabama State athletics department.

A native of Richton, Miss., Byrd began her collegiate playing career at Copiah-Lincoln. As a freshman, she was a member of the 2016 Lady Wolves’ state tournament team that posted records of 29-14 overall and 19-11 in league play. Byrd then became a 33-game starter during her sophomore season at Co-Lin.

As a multi-sport athlete at Leakesville’s Greene County High School, Byrd lettered four years in softball and basketball as well as participating in track and cross country. She was a two-time softball team captain for the Lady Wildcats and earned all-division honors all four years.