No Days Off: The Allie Cummins Story

When Allie Cummins stepped to the plate on February 15 for her first home at-bat of the 2023 season, she hit a home run.

When Allie Cummins stepped to the plate on February 15 for her second home at-bat of the 2023 season, she hit a home run.

When Allie Cummins stepped to the plate on February 15 for her third home at-bat of the 2023 season…

[Spoiler alert!]

…she hit a home run.

It's been that kind of career for Cummins, who has been rewriting the record books with Miami Softball over the past four seasons. The graduate student from West Chester, Ohio already ranks in the top two in program history for home runs (48), runs (148), RBI (142) and batting average (.360). She also holds the team record for career walks (123) and is tied for the all-time mark in doubles (43).

While Cummins' eye-popping offensive numbers jump off the page, it's the slugger's consistency that might actually be one of her greatest strengths. Cummins has started in every game for the RedHawks since 2020 (172 and counting), and still has one more year of eligibility to try and put some of those career statistical records out of reach in the spring of 2024.

In other words, every time head coach Kirin Kumar fills out the lineup card, Cummins' name is on it.

And perhaps even more impressively, every time Allie Cummins takes the field for Miami Softball, she looks up in the stands and sees her mother, Shelly, there to cheer her on.

- - -

It's a cold but sunny Saturday in Oxford, Ohio, and Allie Cummins is facing a full count in the batter's box.

Of course, hitting with two strikes doesn't faze the veteran, who is known for her keen eye at the plate. "Allie probably has one of the best eyes in the country, [the best] that I've ever coached," Kumar said. Cummins readily admitted she prefers to see as many pitches as possible in an at-bat so she can pass along helpful information to her teammates in the on-deck circle.

Allie Cummins' dog — Shelly Cummins brings Allie's dog Hope to every home game.
"I said, 'If you're coming, she's coming!'", Allie explained.

On this brisk April afternoon, there is plenty of encouraging chatter coming Cummins' way from the third base line as she prepares to earn yet another base on balls. A good number of voices are cheering from the Miami dugout, but some of the most consistent coaching comes from high above the dugout.

That's where Allie's mom Shelly is sitting, close to grandpa/'Poppy' Chuck Klare and Allie's beagle Hope.

"Gotta protect! Let's go here, two-three."

"Good eye, good eye!"

"Let's go, Al-lie!"

Along the fence in front of Shelly, a half dozen red and blue Ks are mounted on the chain link fence, one for each strikeout Miami starter Brianna Pratt has recorded so far. Forward-facing Ks are for swinging strikeouts; the backward Ks signify which Buffalo players struck out looking.

Shelly takes care of putting the 'K' cards on the fence. The unofficial responsibility only makes sense, because she's going to be at every game.

Literally, every game.

"My mom has not missed a game, home or away," Allie said. "That's her claim to fame…she's diehard.

"When she got the job at the doctor's office that she's in now, she goes, 'Here's the thing: The only way I'm taking this job is if I can leave whenever I need to for my daughter's softball games.'

"They said okay, but I don't think they knew how serious she was when she said that," laughed Allie. "Because if I text her on Wednesday and say our game got moved from 5 p.m. to 1 p.m. and she's at work, she's leaving. She's walking out!"

"I think that comes from them," Shelly said, gesturing past Allie's dad Daryl's chair to where Allie's grandfather was sitting. "Even when I played [basketball] at Western Michigan and it was a five-hour drive for them: every weekend, my parents were always there."

"We went to Notre Dame this year and my husband said I was crazy, because we drove four and a half hours to get there, watch a two-and-a-half-hour game, and drive back four and a half hours.

"I said, 'I haven't missed a game yet. I'm not missing one now!'"

It's clear that her family's presence means more to both her and her team than Allie can even put into words. "I never have to doubt if there's somebody there supporting me," Allie said. "It just gives me a next level of confidence to play with, because I know what I'm doing is making my family proud…

"Just knowing I have that love and support no matter where I'm at or what I'm doing or how things are going for me, I think that's what makes playing softball so fun for me."

During the 2019 season, Cummins wasn't yet eligible to play for the RedHawks and could only practice with the team. Still, Allie and Shelly drove together to every game on the schedule (minus a Las Vegas tournament). So while it hasn't yet reached Cal Ripken Jr.-like length, Shelly's 'consecutive games' streak is technically almost five seasons old.

There was at least one dicey moment in that stretch. "I did tell her one game that I didn't know if I could change my schedule," Shelly remembered. "She's like, 'Mom! You cannot NOT be up in the stands and me playing!'

"So of course, I changed my schedule around so I could be here!"

"They're not here just to support her, which is great, but they're there to support the team," Kumar said of Cummins' family. "They want the team to win…

"If they're on the road, they're taking other people out to eat too. The dynamic is really cool. She's not that far away [from home], and it's nice to see them even come to away games.

"We had a midweek game three hours away, and there they were. We had four fans, and they were two of them!"

- - -

When Cummins learned recently that her waiver application had been approved and she would in fact be able to return for the 2024 season, her first phone calls went to her parents, her coach, and her grandfather.

"She said, 'You've got to hang around here one more year, Grandpa,'" Klare smiled.

Once the excitement had subsided, the next project for Cummins was to figure out what her extra time on campus would mean for her academic path. A two-time Academic All-MAC selection, she has already completed a Bachelor's degree in Sports Leadership and Management from the College of Education, Health & Society, including a general business minor. Next month, Cummins will finish her Master's degree in SLAM and also secure a graduate certificate in Sport Psychology.

She anticipates being able to earn yet another graduate certificate in 2023-24, likely in Sport Management, and is looking forward to one final academic year at Miami. "The facilities, the people, the players: Everyone that I've met, it's amazing," Cummins said.

"I came into this year taking every day as my last…so when I got that phone call, I would say it was kind of surreal. I still had two seasons [2023, 2024] to accomplish everything that I had my mind set to; I don't have to do it all this year or try to make things happen. I can play more relaxed, because I do have that extra year to enjoy with my teammates…

"I think being able to have that extra year to leave the mark that I do hope to make here just makes it that much better."

- - -

Part of making her mark at an institution known for 'Graduating Champions' involves claiming a championship ring (or several). Cummins has already accomplished that feat multiple times, earning a trio of regular-season titles and a 2022 MAC Tournament crown, but is part of a powerhouse ballclub that has its sights set on even more jewelry.

To put the all-time numbers in perspective, nine players in Miami Softball history have eclipsed 20 career home runs. Six of the nine – Karli Spaid (59), Cummins (48), Holly Blaska (25), Adriana Barlow (24), Riley Coyne (24) and Kate Kobayashi (21) – are part of the Red and White's 2023 lineup.

"We've just got to get more consistent offensively," Kumar said last week. "We have one of the best offenses in the nation and right now we're kind of streaky…we're seeing flashes of it."

So while the three-time defending conference champion RedHawks find themselves in an unfamiliar position looking up at other teams in the MAC regular-season standings with a month to go, Cummins and company are confident heading into the season's home stretch and riding a six-game winning streak.

"We're right there," Cummins said. "We're just coming to practice every day, grinding and working things out."

The RedHawks have outscored opponents 40-0 over the past five games and appear to be rounding into form at just the right time.

As Miami gears up for its final push toward defending its MAC Tournament title, the RedHawks will take a break from conference play this weekend for a showcase event on their home field. The Miami Softball Invitational, presented by Mizuno and U.S. Navy Recruiting, will bring Louisville, Oakland and two-time defending national champion Oklahoma to Oxford this Saturday and Sunday (April 15-16).

"Oklahoma is the pinnacle of softball; they have been that for years," said Kumar. "You're going to get people who are coming from all over who want to see them play, and when that happens, they're coming to our campus, and they're coming to watch our team play…I'm excited about it."

"I think it's going to be really telling of where we are [as a program] versus where we think we are," Cummins said. "Hopefully things go well and people want to come back and watch us play a little bit more!"

Miami is set to take on the Golden Grizzlies Saturday at 2 p.m. and then square off with the 37-1 Sooners Sunday at 10 a.m. A capacity crowd is expected for all four games in Oxford (all-session tickets sold out in less than an hour last week!), including Oklahoma-Oakland at 11 a.m. Saturday and Oklahoma-Louisville at 5 p.m. that same day.

And if you're fortunate enough to be one of the hundreds of fans in attendance as Allie Cummins and her teammates take the field this weekend against the No. 1-ranked team in the country, listen for that one voice of encouragement from the third base line that tends to rise above all of the others.

Because when Allie Cummins is in the lineup, Shelly Cummins is in the crowd.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Shelly said. "I will cherish every game that I've been able to see and all the time I've been able to spend with her.

"To see her do her thing and play the game she loves makes my heart happy."

Find more Front Row Features at www.MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.

This weekend's Miami Softball Invitational presented by Mizuno and U.S. Navy Recruiting (April 15-16) features four games in Oxford (Oklahoma-Oakland at 11 a.m. Saturday, Miami-Oakland at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oklahoma-Louisville at 5 p.m. Saturday, and Miami-Oklahoma at 10 a.m. Sunday). All-session tickets are already sold out, but there is a small chance a very limited quantity of single-day passes MAY be available at the gate on gameday.

Miami returns to MAC action with a home series against Akron April 21 and 22; the games against the Zips are free and open to the public.

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Adriana Barlow

Holly Blaska

Riley Coyne

Allie Cummins

Kate Kobayashi

Brianna Pratt

Karli Spaid

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