In her first year as a Sun Devil pitcher, sophomore Kylee Magee posted a team-best qualified ERA of 3.64, with three complete games and two shutouts in her freshman season. She was selected to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team following her success last year.
This fall season, Magee continued her success in the circle, posting a 1.00 ERA and 16 K/7, and she led the team in FIP, fielding independent pitching.
Success in the circle is not anything new to the California native, as she was a MaxPreps Freshman All-American in 2019. Magee has found success in another field, the fashion and design.
Magee got her first sewing machine when she was seven, and according to her brother, former ASU baseball and football player Brandon Magee, she has always had an eye for fashion.
“I know my dad used to take her to Downtown Los Angeles all the time to get materials to start making things,” Brandon Magee said. “And then they turned the whole garage into her own studio to make clothes, and she just went off.”
She has made many articles of clothing for herself, something that comes from the fact that she is a self-described frugal person.
“When I found out that I can make my own clothes and I could save money, I think that drew my attention,” Magee said. “Because I’m very frugal when it comes to money.”
She likes to help out people around her with her skills. She fixes clothing for her family, has made gifts for her siblings, has made prom dresses for her high school teammates, and has even made an outfit for graduate student infielder Jordyn VanHook.
READ MORE: ASU softball infielder Jordyn VanHook breaks out in senior season
“I believe she will be one of the best designers ever,” Brandon Magee said. “She is that great. She's an amazing, amazing designer.”
Along with designing for friends, family and teammates, she has also used her skills at the sewing machine to benefit the Lapan Sunshine Foundation in Tucson, which provides students with college and career preparedness programs. Magee helped the foundation in multiple ways during the first year of her name, image and likeness (NIL) partnership with the foundation.
She used her fashion sense to help at the Lapan Leadership Summit. This summit is an event where around 30 college-bound high school graduates take part in a three-day seminar where they learn how to prepare for college. One important part of the summit is preparing the students for professional interviews, which Magee led.
READ MORE: Sun Devil athletes spread sunshine through NIL partnerships with Lapan Sunshine Foundation
“Kylee actually co-led that session,” Lapan Foundation CEO Jackie Vasquez-Lapan said. “She taught them what to wear professionally, how to dress professionally, how to still show who you are in a professional manner. She also helped the kids go shopping and helped them purchase professional attire.”
The other main piece that Magee has done for the foundation is making prom dresses for its inaugural prom dress drive. She made two dresses for the foundation; one was a somewhat generic dress, while the other dress was special.
“One was made with a girl in mind,” Vasquez-Lapan said. “She’s a very special kid with a special story, and Kylee made her the dress of her dreams by hand.”
While her skills with fashion and softball seem unrelated, they come from the same place: fiery passion.
"She is one of those humans that are good at anything," Brandon Magee said. "When you know how to win, and she knows how to win, you can literally do anything. She could model, she could act, she could sing if she wanted. She's just good. At anything."
This idea of Magee being a winner is something that was echoed by her coach, Megan Bartlett. Bartlett said Magee not only has a versatile repertoire consisting of a fastball and a strong changeup, but she also is a pitcher who has the ability to pitch at an elite level.
This winning mentality, her skills in the circle, and her talents with a sewing machine help make Magee the person who Vasquez-Lapan said is a winner, a fighter and a person with a "big heart."
"A lot of why she does what she does is the joy and pride people have once they wear her clothes. She really wants to be the best on the field," Vasquez-Lapan said. "My coaches always say to us, when we were playing, greatness is a way of life. How you do anything is how you do everything, and that's definitely exemplified in Kylee. Greatness is important to her, everywhere."
Edited by Alfred Smith III, Jasmine Kabiri and Shane Brennan
Reach the reporter at hcorrado@asu.edu and follow @haydencorrado21 on X.
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