OKLAHOMA CITY – Last year, Venezuelan infielder Kisbel Vizcaya was the centerpiece of a MACU softball lineup that made history by leading the Evangels to their first ever appearance in the NAIA Tournament in her first season with the program.

However, before she even made it to MACU, Vizcaya had already made a name for herself on the Venezuelan baseball and softball landscape. While the shortstop and third baseman has mostly made a massive impact with the bat in the MACU lineup, Vizcaya was turning heads as a Venezuelan Women's Baseball National Team as a pitcher.

Beginning her baseball career at eight years old, Vizcaya got the call to join the Venezuelan National team when she was only 15. The San Juan de los Morros native got her first taste of playing ball in the United States when her squad competed in the 2018 Women's Baseball World Cup in Davie, Florida before helping lead her team to the 2019 World Cup Qualifier in Mexico against the United States.

At the conclusion of the tournament, a random Venezuelan fan approached Vizcaya and it was suggested that she try her hand at becoming a softball player at the collegiate level, which would give her a great opportunity to study in the United States.

Vizcaya's journey back to the U.S. started when she signed to play for the Southeastern Community College (Iowa) softball program. While her first year as a college softball player took some time to adapt, Vizcaya saw tremendous progression the following season as she raised her batting average from .188 in 2021 to .343 in 2022 with 26 runs and 14 RBIs.

Her last season at Southeastern is where the sophomore utility took her game to the next level as she wrapped up the year with a .400 batting average as she recorded 14 doubles and four homers for 32 RBIs and scored 42 runs.

With her JUCO career coming to a close, Vizcaya needed to find a place to take her softball talents for her last two years of college and with many of her friends from the SCC baseball program being recruited to the MACU Baseball program, the NJCAA First Team All-Region selection took a similar path in joining the MACU Softball team after speaking with then assistant coach Keilani Tumanuvao and head coach Jim Gasso.

With the Evangels losing five of their top seven hitters from the previous season due to graduation, Vizcaya had some big shoes to fill, but she ended up pacing a MACU lineup that hit for an even higher average during the 2024 campaign. Overall, she turned in a squad-best .331 batting average while leading the team in hits (59), runs (36) and stolen bases (23) while hitting out of the all-important leadoff spot for MACU.

"From the very first day Kisbel stepped on our campus, she has been an incredibly positive influence on the entire team," said Gasso. "She gets along with everybody, she's a great player, and she leads by example. She is always giving it 100-percent in practice and games. She's a great person and I can understand why the team rallies around her."

After the Evangels finished SAC Tournament play with a 36-15 overall record and posted a program record 27 wins in SAC play, the Evangels were selected to their first ever NAIA Tournament appearance, which also resulted in the program getting its first NAIA tourney victory by a score of 4-0 over No. 15 College of Idaho on May 14.

"MACU is a small school, but it gives me that family atmosphere," stated Vizcaya about being a part of the program. "Everyone at MACU is incredibly supportive and it has been a fun journey with the team so far."

While her collegiate season ended in the NAIA Regional, Vizcaya's year of softball was only just beginning as she had some other big plans in-store.

During the fall season, Vizcaya got to be a part of a special exhibition game where the Evangels played the Oklahoma Sooners, one of the biggest powerhouse softball programs after winning the last four NCAA Division I National Championships. The contest took place on November 1 at Love's Field in Norman, Oklahoma and in that game; she hit a single against the Sooners while putting the ball in-play during all of her at-bats.

In December, Vizcaya got the opportunity to represent her home country of Venezuela once again, this time as a member of the Venezuelan National Softball Team in the Bolivarian Games Ayacucho, a major Latin American Tournament hosted in Lima, Peru that featured seven of the best softball teams from South America, Central America and the Caribbean. It is one of the major international tournaments that are considered for teams to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games. Vizcaya says that she is highly motivated to lead her team to the Olympics knowing that that the softball portion of the Games will be hosted by Oklahoma City in 2028.

Vizcaya was one of the top players on the Venezuelan team that put together a dominant run, beginning round-robin play with a 7-2 win over Colombia and a 12-0 victory over Chile and 10-0 win over Bolivia.

Advancing to the double elimination semifinals, Venezuela picked up a 4-1 victory over the Dominican Republic before a 7-0 win over Peru advanced the squad to the championship game to put it in a rematch with Colombia.

In that title tilt, Vizcaya came up huge for her team as she went 3-for-3 from the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored, including the bases-loaded go-ahead 2-RBI single give Venezuela the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first. That gave Venezuela all of the momentum as the team eventually pulled away with the 9-2 victory to claim the Ayacucho Games title.