‘God Bless America’ and Go Phils

Makenzi Egizi has been singing for most of her life. 

Back in elementary school, she started taking voice lessons and participating in school choirs. By the time she was in high school, she was a soloist at school concerts, singing at Minutemen football games, and performing at township events. 

Now, a 2025 WTHS grad and an incoming sophomore, majoring in psychology, at Rowan University, Egizi still makes time for singing — and she recently performed for one of her biggest audiences. 

Egizi sang “God Bless America” during a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park on July 19. She performed on the field at the top of the 7th inning, with the entire stadium watching; it also was broadcasted for viewers at home. 

At its capacity, the stadium can hold more than 42,000 people. According to ESPN, there were 40,132 people in attendance at the Phillies vs. New York Mets match up. (The Mets beat the Phillies 6-1). 

“It was really fun to do the Phillies. It was just cool having that amount of people there and getting to support the team I like,” she said. 

Egizi and her mom, Stephanie, submitted an entertainment application to the Phillies. Any individual or group who wants the opportunity to perform at a game must submit an online application, which requires links to three past performances and a photo from a past performance. Egizi was eventually selected to perform. 

In addition to singing on the field, she had the opportunity to walk behind the scenes at the stadium. She even had a photo-op with the beloved Phillies Phanatic. 

“It was a really surreal and full-circle moment. I’ve been singing for so long and I love doing it, and I finally got to do it in front of so many people,” she said.

This was not Egizi’s first time singing at Citizens Bank Park. Last year, she performed the National Anthem at the start of a Savannah Bananas game held at the Phillies stadium. (The Savannah Bananas are a barnstorming exhibition baseball team that blends traditional ball with upbeat, comedic entertainment. They compete in the Banana Ball Championship League). 

“My mom had just submitted a video for fun to see if I would get picked or not. We didn’t think anything of it, and then they ended up picking me to sing there,” Egizi said.  

“It was a little nerve-wracking, just because there were so many people watching, and I had never done anything with that big of a crowd before,” she said. “But it was a really cool experience, and I was really excited to do it.”

Egizi will be performing again for the Savannah Bananas at the Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Del. on August 15. Her mom reached back out to the team to let them know Egizi was available to perform again, if they needed any more singers. The team replied and invited Egizi to come back and perform, since she “knocked it out of the park last year,” her mom said.

She also performed the national anthem at Washington Township’s National Night Out at Washington Lake Park on August 4. She has been performing at the event the last few years, and she continues to be asked to perform, even after her father, Gary Egizi, recently retired from the WTPD. 

“It feels good to be involved,” Egizi said. “It’s an honor, because they could definitely choose someone else or hold auditions to have other people, but they still ask me to do it, and it’s a really good feeling.”