Typically soft-spoken and in the shadows with her Sony A74 camera, junior outfielder Peyton Pusey is front and center on the softball field. After a big double off the fence, a stolen base, or rangy defensive play, you will often see Pusey letting out a big scream.
“Outside of softball, I think most people can say I’m quite the opposite. The softball field is my safe space to be as reckless and fun as possible,” said Pusey.
Pusey made her presence felt for the Red Foxes as soon as she arrived on campus with an immediate impact as a freshman. She started 52 of 58 games at center field and leadoff all season for the squad that provided Marist Softball with their fourth MAAC championship.
“I definitely would call myself a tone-setter. I want to be a leader the best I can and I think being a lead-off hitter is one way to be that,” said Pusey.
The center fielder embraces being a versatile five-tool athlete who can hit for average and power, run the bases and play reliable defense. In her third season, Pusey currently owns the third-best career batting average in program history behind two teammates, graduate student Miah McDonald and redshirt junior Haley Ahr, at .384.
At 162 runs scored, she is six away from a program-best 168 runs scored while accumulating 186 hits, 59 walks, 56 stolen bases and a .963 fielding percentage in 149 games with plenty left to go.
“You couldn’t want anything more than that as a manager to have that lead-off hitter be someone who wants to be in that spotlight. They want to be in that spot, they want to be the table setter; they want to do all the things for the big guns,” said Marist head coach Joe Ausanio.
“She understands her role perfectly and she’s been outstanding at it since day one.”
A goal-oriented individual with a never-satisfied mentality, Pusey believes that baseball and softball are ingrained into her DNA, and she was bound to end up on the diamond. She also believed that, following a conference championship, there was more work to be done.
“That’s always been my dad and I’s thing. Reach a goal, set a new one immediately. I remember when we won the MAAC championship, we got our rings. My dad couldn’t be there, but I called him and asked him what the next goal was because I never want to become complacent and I want to keep accomplishing more,” said Pusey.
Pusey became a mainstay for the program on day one, appearing on the MAAC All-Rookie Team, All-MAAC First and Second Team and NCFA First and Second Team All-Region selections.
Pusey has been a staple of Marist softball as the leadoff and center fielder for three years. She is also becoming a staple of Marist athletics in the multimedia department.
“Honestly, especially this year, getting to do so much work with the media team, getting to see other athletes succeed, and seeing the passion in their eyes, the same passion that I have for softball, is so rewarding to me,” said Pusey.
As much success as Pusey saw on the field, she knew she could do more for herself and began growing off the field. She took her Instagram account, “pep.productions”, to another level after its birth in June 2023. The account features high-quality sports videos, ranging from short reels to long-form highlights.
Pusey’s content quickly caught the eye of the Marist Athletics multimedia department, with which she now works out of season.
“The first thing I ever started doing was filming sports because it’s really been one of the only things I’ve loved so much. I love the passion behind it, and I love seeing people succeed. It makes me emotional,” said Pusey.
Before being fully immersed in Marist Athletics, as the mantra with her father goes, Pusey set new goals for her collegiate career.
After being named the 2022 Delaware Gatorade Softball Player of the Year to conclude her high school career, Pusey traveled up to Poughkeepsie to fulfill her commitment to playing softball at Marist and pursuing her passion for film, which began as a freshman in high school.
“Even though I felt athletically I had reached a peak, I knew that it was going to be a brand new place where nobody knew who I was,” said Pusey. “I have no reputation here; I had one back in Delaware, so I started from fresh and tried to do the same thing.”
She began building at her new home and leaned on what drew her to Marist: the environment and the family aspect the softball team provided.
“The connections that I’ve made with people are worth more than gold. Whether it’s with the staff or with the friends I’ve made, there’s just good people here,” said Pusey.
While creating cherished connections in her first year on campus, Pusey blossomed as the starting center fielder, recording zero errors, stealing 21 bases and reaching base safely at a .406 OBP clip as a freshman.
Pusey’s teammates always expect chaos when she digs her cleats into the left-hander batter’s box and on the bases, which puts them in a position to have success themselves. She scored 63 runs for the Red Foxes in 2024, the most in a single Marist season; recorded 73 hits, the second-most in a single Marist season; and put together the sixth-best single-season average in program history last year.
With all the positives, some may find it difficult to continue improving; Pusey finds a way, avoiding complacency as best she can.
This season, she wants to fully utilize her five-tool skill set by being an asset to team success in any way possible. Whether that be cutting her strikeouts in half, being a constant threat on the bases, or making sure her confidence never wavers so she does not take herself out of at-bats.
On the diamond, she significantly increased her slash line from .339/.406/.433 her freshman year to .397/.469/.587 her sophomore year; while her play improves, the quality of her videos does too.
The continual improvement is a testament to Pusey’s work ethic. “Pep.productions” is now bound to appear as a collaborator while scrolling through any Marist Athletics page, signifying that some or all of a video posted is from her lens.
“I value the opportunities I’ve been given on the softball field. My coaches put a lot of trust in me and, with my work, my boss has put a lot of faith in me,” said Pusey. “They let me do my thing, and I feel like that’s where I flourish the most, being able to use my gifts and growing with them.”
The start of Pusey’s 2025 campaign is what her teammates have grown to expect of her: being a tough out, having energy and causing chaos for the defense by utilizing each of her skills. Through 26 non-conference games, she hit .427/.466/.563 with a 1.029 OPS and continues to excel in MAAC play.
While currently dialed in on doing everything possible to win a second MAAC championship with her teammates, Pusey also has big dreams after school. The ultimate team-first player eventually wants to be her own boss, doing freelance and independent video production. She knows it will take a lot of work but is more than willing to do it.
“Every video I make, I want to be better than the last and every day I’m playing, I want to be better than the last. Never being satisfied is a good thing for me and keeps me going. Especially when it might feel like I don’t have to do anything more. I’ve pretty much done everything I want to do, but that’s just never enough for me. So I want to keep making better videos, and I want to keep playing better softball,” said Pusey.
Her ideal start to becoming self-sufficient is to continue filming through the college sports landscape, which she has become obsessed with while working at Marist. Pusey enjoys the passion that comes from student-athletes playing for the love of the game the same way she does on the softball field.
“When you see Peyton play, she’s just a very intense player. She has a will to win and you can see that in everything she does. She has a will to succeed,” said Ausanio.
Success is bound to continue finding Pusey with the camera, bat and glove—and it is no coincidence. Her continual improvement through hard work is evident in her numbers and ever-growing contributions to the multimedia department. While soft-spoken, Pusey is turning all her large aspirations into realities while continuing to focus on what she can do next.
Edited by August Lieberman and Marley Pope
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore; Photo from Marist Athletics
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