Touching Base With Top Performers: Horvath and McNicoll

For many softball players, working with Jason Pagan wasn’t the end of their softball journey but a beginning. This is especially true for alumni Maia “Lu” McNicoll and Savannah Horvath, two student-athletes who made their mark on softball in college.

From its earliest beginnings, Horvath’s career as a California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Matador was remarkable. This multi-sport athlete started strong, named freshman Big West Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year, first team All-Big West and Big West All-Freshmen Team, and second team NFCA All-West Region. From there, she amassed more honors, including third team National Fast Pitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-West Region, honorable mention All-American, Big West Player of the Year, and first team All-Conference for the fourth year in a row, marking only the ninth player in league history to be named first team All-Conference four times. She still holds the career home run record at CSUN (second in conference) and most career doubles.

“As an athlete, I always tried to perform to the best of my abilities, which meant that my only goal was to win games,” says Horvath. “I never worried myself about stats or accolades because chasing them only makes players nervous. I never felt nervous. I just wanted to play. When you play to win, accolades take care of themselves.”

According to Horvath, the biggest differences between travel ball and college ball is the time commitment and level of competition. She says college is essentially a full-time job, but you also have to consider that the school is also paying you to do a job — bringing your A-game one hundred percent of the time. That means most of a student-athlete’s time is dedicated to study, practice, weight training, and travel. There is very little time to go out or attend parties. 

“My biggest piece of advice for young girls is that they have to want to play because you have to give up some of that free time you might be used to now,” she said. “If you want recognition, then you have to be a doer.”

Horvath is also very grateful for everyone who contributed to her success, including Coach Jason Pagan as a hitting coach, Coach Stover as a travel ball coach, and Coach Livreri for putting together such a great high school team — one that won back-to-back state titles.

Currently, Horvath works as a Vegas Viva, which is a team ambassador and professional dancer for the NHL Golden Knights. This might seem like a large departure from her degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in exercise science, but she advises players to live the life of their dreams while they can.

McNicoll echoes much of what Horvath says. As an alumni of Bases Loaded, which was the name of Jason Pagan’s travel team before it became Softball 101, she looks back on travel ball as being one of the most enjoyable times of her life.

“When you get to the collegiate level, you must take on many things alone because your parents won’t be there with you,” says McNicoll. “You have to take initiative, get ahead on your studies, and always make time for yourself ahead of academics and sports. Mental health is more important than anything.”

McNicoll also reminds younger players to be adaptable. Although she was recruited as a pitcher/infielder, the coaches at Northwest Nazarene University had other plans. It wasn’t long before they transitioned her to left field, where she became one of the best in the conference.

“I personally don’t like the spotlight. So when the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) named me player of the week, I saw it as an accomplishment but not something as strong as the memories I’ll hold to my heart for a lifetime,” she said. “I just focused on being there for my team and doing my job for them.”

Last year, GNAC named McNicoll GNAC Player of the Year — an honor this criminal justice major, with a minor in Chinese, never saw coming. But McNicoll stressed that this, too, is an honor that is only secondary to being part of a team. 

“We made a culture bigger than anyone could imagine,” she said. “They are the backbone of my life at NNU and have helped me get where I am today.”

Like Horvath, McNicoll is quick to thank her family first, followed closely by Coach Jason Pagan. She credits him with making her a tough player, and one of the strongest hitters in her conference. She still does Coach Pagan's drills to keep her hitting skills at 100 percent capacity and always remembers him telling her to never give up. 

Constantly one of the top hitters on her team, McNicoll started in 183 of 187 games played during her career. She hit .301 in 534 at-bats with 161 hits, 105 runs scored, and 37 home runs.  In NNU D2 history, she ranked fifth in slugging percentage, eighth in on-base percentage, tied for seventh in at-bats, sixth in runs scored, ninth in hits, tied for sixth in doubles, first in home runs, third in runs batted in, and second in walks at the conclusion of her career. In addition to being named GNAC Player of the Year, she made the NFCA Second Team All-Region, D2CCA First Team All-Region, and First Team All-GNAC. Her career stats are maintained by NNU.