Penn-Trafford's Rapp twins exceled in larger roles for Geneva softball

Because they are twins, Maddy and McKenzie Rapp, not surprisingly, do a lot together. Even as softball players, they formed their own battery at Penn-Trafford, with McKenzie pitching and Maddy catching.

So it should be equally unsurprising that the sisters took on larger roles for the Geneva softball team this past spring during their sophomore seasons.

The Golden Tornadoes went 15-5 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference and 30-20 overall, reaching the PAC playoffs as well as the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. McKenzie Rapp had a hand in 17 of Geneva’s victories, going 8-4 and recording a program-record nine saves while posting a 2.94 ERA over 100 innings (compared to a 5.33 ERA over 49 innings the year before).

Maddy hit .266 with a home run, 21 RBIs and 21 runs. Her 109 at-bats were nearly twice as many as her freshman season.

“I think it’s a natural progression from freshman to sophomore,” said coach Van Zanic, who has 22 years at the helm of the softball team. “We lost seven seniors the year before, so we had a big turnover and their (Rapps’) incoming freshman class, there were 13 of them, so we were relying on that group to take a step forward.”

Maddy played mostly third base as a freshman but wound up as the Golden Tornadoes’ primary catcher this past season.

“Last year when I played third base, I probably would have said I hope I never catch again,” Maddy said. “But … I had always caught when we were younger … and I have a deep love for catching no matter how much it wears on my body.”

Zanic said he does his best to have Maddy catch when McKenzie pitches because of the obvious comfort level they share. He also said having Maddy behind the plate seems to give McKenzie more confidence.

Maddy said she could see a big difference in McKenzie’s pitching this season. Though she added velocity to her fastball, McKenzie Rapp isn’t a pitcher who is going to blow away the hitters.

Instead, she relies on her screwball and changeup to keep hitters guessing and induce weak contact.

“Her changeup is dynamic, and she spins it,” Zanic said. “Honestly, we rarely call straight fastballs for her.”

Added Maddy: “You could definitely tell when she got back to the season and started pitching how much stronger she got (from the previous year). She also worked a lot on her spins in the winter. … Her changeup is nasty. Her screwball, it’s more of a rise ball.”

McKenzie said her improvement is tied as much to her mentality as it is to anything physical she might have done in the offseason.

“I think knowing that I’m able to do it and believing in myself that I can do it and playing to have fun,” she said about her mindset. “Putting pressure on myself but not pressure to where like, oh if I do bad everyone’s going to hate me.

“It’s more like, let’s go have fun. Let’s go play. This is our last few years of college softball. We might as well enjoy it.”

She credited Maddy’s pitch framing for a lot of her success, success that included the program record for saves in a season.

It was a record of which McKenzie wasn’t aware. Not only does she not keep track of her numbers, she said, she wasn’t certain what a save was. So when she heard about the record, she had to get some clarification from Zanic.

“In softball, that’s not a normal thing, the save thing,” Zanic said. “She broke the record, and we wrote about it (on the Geneva athletics website) and the next day she came to ask me what the definition of a save was.”

Added McKenzie: “I guess I really should as a pitcher, but I don’t really understand that stuff.”

Maddy, meanwhile, not only was a key component of Geneva’s defense with her skills behind the plate, she increased her production on offense. By the end of the season, she was hitting fifth in the lineup.

The big difference was the decrease in her strikeouts. She struck out 16 times in 57 at-bats — roughly once every 3.5 at-bats — as a freshman but only 19 times in 109 at-bats (about once every six) this spring.

It was an area of her game she said Zanic harped on, but she took the constructive criticism in stride. She knew where the coach was coming from. He had coached her and McKenzie in travel ball when they were 13 years old.

“I don’t mind when he tells me my strikeout record is high because he’s just pushing me to be better,” Maddy said. “For me, personally, I like to be told what I’m doing wrong because I know I can fix it. Having that relationship with him allows me to take criticism a little better.”

One other improvement the Rapp twins have made probably goes unnoticed by their teammates. Between their junior and senior years at Penn-Trafford, both had surgery to correct scoliosis, a curvature of the spine.

Both had what were classified as “C” curves — though McKenzie said she also had slight curvature in her neck, making it more like an “S” — and they were encouraged to have corrective surgery while they were still young and strong.

Though both said the scoliosis never seemed to affect their play, they are glad to have had surgery for the sake of their long-term well being.

And they made — surprise — equally quick recoveries. They were told recovery would take five to six months, but both were back doing softball activities in less than four.

As much as it benefited them in a practical sense, the surgery helped the Rapps maintain their perspective.

“The surgery was hard. The recovery was hard, but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” McKenzie said, “because it shaped me into who I am dealing with all that adversity.”

Added Maddy: “For me, personally, I’m playing because other people can’t play. That’s the reason I play because I know some people can’t play anymore. I’m playing for them, and I’m going to keep moving forward in my collegiate level.”