OXFORD, Ohio – The Miami University softball team (2-3) travels to Las Vegas for a tournament at UNLV this weekend, playing five games. The RedHawks will face Utah Valley, UNLV, UC Davis and Seattle.
The RedHawks opened the 2019 season at the USC Upstate Tournament last weekend. Miami lost both of its games on opening day but won two of the next three to conclude the weekend with a 2-3 record. The RedHawks wins came against Youngstown State and East Carolina.

Senior infielder Johniann Wahl led the Miami offense in runs (4), home runs (2), total bases (12), slugging percentage (1.000), walks (4) and on-base percentage (.563). Wahl was tied with sophomores Ashton Slone and Morgan Lott for the team lead in hits (5) and tied with Slone for the team lead in batting average (.417).

Sophomore Taylor Rathe led the Miami pitching staff with an ERA of 1.91 over 11 innings pitched. Rathe only gave up an average of one hit an inning and only surrendered three runs while striking out seven batters.

OPPONENT PREVIEW

Miami opens the tournament at UNLV with a game against Utah Valley on Friday at noon. Utah Valley played a tournament at UNLV opening weekend as well, finishing with a 3-2 record. Utah Valley was shut out by UNLV, then won three-straight games before dropping the tournament finale. In every game except the shutout loss against UNLV, Utah Valley scored at least eight runs in every game. Peyton Angulo leads the Utah Valley offense in batting average (.706), hits (12), runs (8), doubles (4) and on-base percentage (.750).

The RedHawks then play the host team on Friday at 5 p.m. UNLV finished opening weekend at a perfect 5-0, outscoring its opponents 43-15. Lauren Tycksen leads the UNLV starting offense in batting average (.625), at bats (16), runs (10), hits (10), triples (2), total bases (15), slugging percentage (.938) and on-base percentage (.667). The team stole a collective total of 17 bases during opening weekend.

On Saturday, Miami's first game is against UC Davis at 4 p.m. UC Davis are also undefeated at 3-0 as two of its games during opening weekend were canceled. UC Davis won a close season opener against Montana by a 2-1 margin before dominating Santa Clara and Montana for its two other wins. Meghan Bradbury leads the UC Davis offense in batting average (.667), hits (6), total bases (12) and on-base percentage (.700). Bradbury is also tied for the team lead in doubles (2), triples (1), home runs (1) and RBI (5).

The RedHawks second Saturday game is against Seattle at 6:30 p.m. Seattle has a 1-4 record following opening weekend, although no loss was by more than two runs. Seattle's win was an 8-0 shutout of Weber State in five innings. Seattle lost to Bradley, Oregon State, Stanford and Oregon. Ally Choate leads the Seattle offense in batting average (.667), hits (10), total bases (13), slugging percentage (.867) and slugging percentage (.737). Choate is tied for the team lead in at bats (15) and runs (5).

Miami concludes the tournament with a rematch against Utah Valley on Sunday at 11 a.m.

UP AHEAD

The RedHawks have a weekend off from competition before heading to Nashville, Tenn. for a tournament at Lipscomb on March 2 and 3.