SAN ANTONIO – It didn’t take Makalya Madrid long to feel at home with UTSA Softball.
Returning to San Antonio to join the Roadrunners for the 2025 season has been everything the Cibolo Steele High School product had hoped it would be.
“Coming home was just the best thing ever, having my family behind me and having these girls as my family,” Madrid said. “We come out here and we dedicate ourselves every single day. It shows on the field – not just for me, but for everybody.”
Madrid was one of several newcomers who highlighted the Roadrunners’ impressive performances that led them to the UTSA Invitational Championship this past weekend and gave them the best start in program history at 5-0. She led her squad in batting average with a .462 clip, recording six hits, including a home run and a team-best three doubles. Madrid topped all UTSA players with eight RBI.
“I’ve been working for this moment forever,” she said. “I’m honestly taking every at bat one-by-one. I know that every at-bat is a blessing and I’m here for a reason. I want to play like that every day and every moment.”
Madrid began her collegiate career at Texas Tech, where she redshirted her freshman campaign of 2024. Her return to San Antonio has brought a confidence and a calm to the player her teammates call KK.
“I play very loose and very free,” she said. “I play like I am at home because this is my home. I have lived in San Antonio for years so being able to be at home shows in how I play on the field.”
Vann Stuedeman, UTSA’s second-year head coach who has infused her winning culture into the Roadrunners’ program, marvels at Madrid’s seemingly duplicitous personality that is both serious and fun-loving at the same time.
“She’s got a carefree spirit and she’s silly and likes to have a good time,” Stuedeman said. “And then she can swing a big stick and expects herself to bring it. She is smart and she understands what the pitchers are throwing her. She’s got a plan. She brings a great personality as well as being a great softball player and great hitter.”
When Stuedeman learned that Madrid was interested in transferring to UTSA in order to be closer to family, she was delighted to welcome the former Steele standout with a propensity for hitting home runs to her program.
“A couple of her summer coaches reached out to us,” Stuedeman said. “She really just wanted to come home and we got to be the benefactor of that.”
Madrid and Crislyne Moreno, a Samuel Clemens High product who won a Southland Conference Championship at McNeese and hit two home runs in her opening weekend at UTSA, are two San Antonio natives who were drawn back home to play for the Roadrunners. It’s a trend that Stuedeman expects to see continue.
“We’re definitely trying to recruit really hard here in San Antonio,” Stuedeman said. “KK and Crislyne Moreno just wanted to be home and we benefited to be in the right location. I’m hoping over time that more of the San Antonio kids will choose to stay here.”
As for Madrid, the chance to represent her hometown is the opportunity she has always dreamed of.
“I am so happy to be home,” Madrid said. “I have always told my parents how I want to do so much for my hometown and how I just want to help the community. So to be here – and even to do community service for our school and for San Antonio - means the world to me. I love it.”