Miami softball heads into MAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed

The Miami University RedHawks softball team wrapped up the 2025 regular season at 31-23 overall and 20-7 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). This standing won the RedHawks the MAC regular season championship.

Miami enters the 2025 MAC tournament with the No. 1 seed and will face the Ball State University Cardinals on Thursday at noon in Akron, Ohio.

The RedHawks brought in a whole new coaching staff ahead of this season. Head coach Mandy Gardner-Colegate joined the team alongside associate coach Alivia Forshey and assistant coach Emerald Doria.

The team suffered a number of losses at the beginning of the season, opening the year 1-4 at the Kajikawa Classic. The RedHawks fell to out-of-conference schools like the University of Maryland, Arizona State University and The University of South Carolina. These games would have been crucial wins for the RedHawks to stay amongst the top softball teams in the nation. Miami only lost nine out of 58 games in 2024.

Miami found their groove during the Miami Tournament, where it hosted Michigan State University and Northern Kentucky University. The RedHawks won three out of their four games.

The team opened up conference play with a sweep in its first MAC series against Kent State University. Shortly after, the RedHawks swept two series against Northern Illinois University and Western Michigan University.

“I think that was a defining moment because it’s tough to sweep,” Gardner-Colegate said. “It’s tough to beat a team two times, let alone three, so the fact that we were able to do that set ourselves up nicely, and we just kind of got on a hot streak. When you’re playing well, you want to continue playing well, so I am glad we were able to be victorious in that.”

These wins sent Miami on a nine-game hot streak before dropping a 8-2 decision to Central Michigan University in the second game of the series.

Following that, Miami went 0-3 against Ohio University on the road before finishing out the season strong with five wins between Bowling Green State University and the University of Buffalo.

“I am well surprised with how this team showed up this season,” senior outfielder Jenna Golembiewski said. “We were doubted a lot, and a lot of teams said this is their year to take down Miami, but I couldn’t be any prouder about this team or what we have done. Even with everyone doubting us, we didn’t let that affect us very much.”

Despite the doubts, the RedHawks claimed their sixth-straight MAC title to celebrate Senior Day, which honored seniors Golembiewski, Chloe Parks and Shelby Kunkel.

First-year pitcher Shelbie Krieger said she knows what it takes to be a Miami softball player during these times.

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“I feel like as a team, we like to get the job done,” Krieger said. “[Not only] going into every game just knowing there is a job that needs to get done and getting it done, but not letting the other team sway us either way.”

During the game against the Bulls, Parks secured her 10th career triple for the team, tying her for third in the Miami record book.

Looking ahead to this afternoon, Miami will face the No. 4 Cardinals, a team that the RedHawks are already familiar with. They won the first of three games before losing the final two of the series with no runs on April 11-12.

Following their meeting, Ball State and Miami both lost five of their final 11 games.

If Miami wins game one, it will advance to play on Friday, May 9, at noon against the winner of Ohio and Northern Illinois (waiting for Central Michigan and Northern Illinois to finish.)

Beyond the tournament, the team hopes to face more postseason play.

“The MAC [has] been a one-team bid for a long time,” Gardner-Colegate said. “[Whoever] wins the tournament is going to be in the postseason. We have to win to get to the postseason, and then ultimately from day one, I would like to take us to a Super Regional.”

The RedHawks head into their first game looking for a deep postseason run.

lubyhj@miamioh.edu