Preview: Miami softball prepares for MAC Tournament with fifth title in sight

With only three games remaining in the regular season, the Miami University softball team, defending Mid-American Conference (MAC) champions, prepares for its appearance in the MAC tournament taking place May 6-9 at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio. The Redhawks are looking for their fifth straight title win.

In 2025, the Redhawks secured the No. 1 seed and earned a first-round bye in the MAC tournament. Early on in the season, the team was not projected to win anything. Head coach Mandy Gardner-Colegate said it lit a fire under them to finish strong that season. They pulled through by winning the regular season and the MAC tournament.

Miami is currently 35-16 overall with a 16-8 conference record. Finishing the season, Gardner-Colegate hopes to secure the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in order to have a first-round bye again. She has full confidence the team can replicate their tournament win this year.

“Our expectation is to win the thing,” Gardner-Colegate said.

Miami is in the top three for all offensive categories in the MAC. Gardner-Colegate is especially proud of its offensive prowess and said the team is dangerous with the bat in hand.

“We can put up a lot of runs quickly,” Gardner-Colgate said. “You can see this played out in their regular season games so they can put the pressure on the other team.”

The team is second in the MAC in runs scored (343), behind the Ohio University Bobcats (365). It’s common for the RedHawks to score in early stages of games.

“We can put up a lot of runs quickly,” Gardner-Colgate said. “[We] put the pressure on the other team.”

Senior outfielder Katy Olive heads into the tournament as the team’s home run leader. The formidable RedHawk team will play a lower-seeded team that will be hungry for an upset.

“Our coaches told us that we were the one team [other teams] wanted to ruin the season for,” Olive said.

This gave them motivation going into each game. Despite the occasional off game during a series, Olive still believes they have the full capability of going all the way in the tournament.

In order to maintain its strong season, the players feel it is important to have a positive mindset before each game.

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“Showing up with no option except winning,” Olive said. “And then not expecting it either, even though the program has had success in the past but obviously we have to do things to be able to have that success again so, I think not expecting it is important.”

The team’s mindset can be dampened at times, especially when it’s not at full strength. Injury-wise, the team has not had the best luck, Gardner-Colegate said. They haven’t had a fully healthy team in about two months. There was even a time where both the top hitter and the pitcher were out.

Senior outfielder Bailey Manos broke her finger about a month ago. She returned with a bang, hitting a home run against Ohio.

“I really didn’t think I would hit anymore home runs with a broken finger,” Manos said.

She surprised herself and it sparked her confidence for future games. On a positive note, the whole roster is expected to be healthy for the MAC tournament. Depth is what makes this team so unique.

“There is always someone that could come in and play over you and you’d never know, it’s really fun competing with each other,” said Manos.

This quality has allowed the RedHawks to remain afloat when injuries take out starters. Miami has three pitchers Gardner-Colegate said she can really count on to start. They can all pitch full games and not every team has that luxury.

“We push each other because we want everyone to be better,” said Manos. “I think that’s our biggest strength.”

Manos, Olive and Gardner-Colegate all mentioned their favorite season memory was beating Missouri twice. The accomplishment proved to their competition that they are a force to be reckoned with and can hold their own with higher level teams.

“This is a really fun group,” said Gardner-Colegate.

Early in the season, Miami played other power conference teams like University of Mississippi, University of Kentucky, University of Minnesota and San Diego State University. They took two close losses against Kentucky and Ole Miss, 7-8 and 3-4, respectively, and won 5-3 and 6-1 against Minnesota and 7-1 against San Diego State.

“We had a close game, it was a walk off so [we only lost by] one run [against Ole Miss] and then also we came out strong with our season opener in San Diego,” Olive said. “I think that whole trip was a good start to the season.”

The expectation is that regardless of if the team obtains the one seed, it will go beyond another MAC tournament win.

“Even if we don’t win the regular season MAC we still can and we all believe we will win the tournament and move on to regionals,” Manos said. “Our goal all year long has been to make it to regionals and that hasn’t changed.”

fleisczm@miamioh.edu