'Pass the Bat': Inside Miami Softball's MAC Tournament Title

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The Miami University softball team had its work cut out for it on Saturday afternoon.

Let's set the scene: The top-seeded RedHawks were facing rival Ohio with a MAC Tournament championship on the line at Akron's Firestone Stadium.

The teams had played four times already this season –including the previous day in the double-elimination bracket— and the result had been the same each time, with the Bobcats coming out on top.

Heading into the last day of the tournament, Miami would have to take down Ohio not once, but twice to win a fourth-straight title and earn a trip back to the NCAA Tournament. OU gave the ball to ace Skipp Miller, the conference's pitcher of the year, to try and close out the Red and White.

Instead, she got exactly two outs.

An Ella Carter two-run double off the left-field wall and a Holly Merritt three-run shot over the right-field fence made it 5-0 in the first inning and chased Miller. The next Ohio pitcher didn't fare much better, as Erin Pinter immediately greeted Mikie Lieving with a solo shot to left-center to stake the Red and White to a 6-0 lead.

The scoreline held through the end of the game to force a winner-take-all battle later that afternoon. And there was no doubt in the Miami dugout who would come away from that final game as champions.

"We knew we were playing two games, that's for sure," head coach Mandy Gardner-Colegate said later. "We knew if we were going to get the first one, we were getting the second one."

And that's exactly what happened.

A Jenna Golembiewski home run in the second inning of game two gave Miami the lead for good at 3-2, setting the stage for a five-run outburst in the next frame. The Red and White batted around in the third, capitalizing on RBI singles from Mckenna Campbell, Carter and Merritt to make it 8-2.

"We just hit the cover out of the ball from pitch one," Gardner-Colegate smiled. "We're a big momentum team. We like to pass the bat.

"When one person's hitting, we all hit."

And with the way the Miami pitchers were dominating all weekend, that was more than enough run support to bring another trophy back to Oxford.

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The RedHawks' momentum had begun the previous night, with a no-hitter from Léa Chevrier in a 8-0 shutout of Ball State. Chevrier then picked up where she left off Saturday, blanking the Bobcats in another complete-game gem.

From there, Madilyn Reeves took the reins in the circle, finishing off OU in the finale. Reeves mowed down 18 hitters in her 19 innings of work at the MAC Tournament, including seven Bobcats on Saturday afternoon.

Léa Chevrier

"We knew we had everything it took to win the two games," Reeves said. "It was just a matter of how much teamwork we were going to draw on to make that win happen."

"Our mindset the whole weekend was: 'We own this place, and we're here to win,'" Chevrier added.

Miami's pitchers combined to post a sparkling 1.70 ERA over three days of action, with Chevrier and Reeves each earning a pair of victories.

"Both of them just showed up. It was awesome: They were dealing the whole weekend," said senior infielder Chloe Parks. "It was amazing to see Léa come out and throw that no-hitter. That was so clutch and I was so excited for her. And then Madi is dealing like she always does. You can always count on her.

"It was just amazing, and I think it's great to have that right now, because they have that awesome momentum going forward."

Parks was also a standout for the Red and White, earning tournament MVP honors for her performance at the plate. She racked up 15 total bases with a home run, two triples, a double, and three singles across five games to help Miami outscore the opposition 30-10.

Parks was one of four RedHawks to hit .400 or better and one of six Miami players to homer in Akron, producing a .412 batting average in the event to extend her overall hitting streak to nine games. And how's this for a clutch stat? Even though Parks (who ranks second in Miami history for career triples with a dozen) didn't have a three-bagger all season until May 4, she now has three triples in the past six games.

"Chloe had an unbelievable weekend," said Gardner-Colegate. "Anytime she got on, we were hitting behind her, and anytime she came up, we knew she was going to come thru and get a hit. Chloe Parks

"We feel like that with everyone, one through nine. When they come up, we genuinely feel like they're all going to get it done, and that's really cool to have.

"They pour all their energy into each other, they have belief in each other and they have belief in this team. I'm just excited to go to a regional and show them off a little bit."

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Ah yes, the regional. Miami will play in its fifth consecutive and ninth all-time NCAA Tournament beginning Friday in Knoxville, Tenn.

Storylines abound as the past and present of Miami Softball collide at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium. Take your pick:

The RedHawks return to the same venue where they last competed in the NCAAs exactly 52 weeks earlier.

Their first game, against host and No. 7 national seed Tennessee Friday afternoon, will have a familiar face in the other dugout in UT graduate assistant Karli Spaid (Miami's all-time leader in batting average, runs, hits, home runs and RBI).

And Miami's next game on Saturday in the double-elimination bracket will either come against Ohio State or North Carolina. A potential matchup with the Buckeyes would mean facing former RedHawk head coach Kirin Kumar, who led the Red and White to the NCAA Tournament in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

"Seeing all those familiar faces is going to be really fun," Parks said after the selection show. "Seeing people that I know, people that I played with and people who have coached me will be cool. But at the end of the day, it's just another team we get to compete against. It doesn't matter what name's across the jersey or who's on the other side of the field. We're there to win."

"We know there's a big thing held over this regional between us going to Knoxville last year and Ohio State going to the same one," Reeves said. "It's just a matter of who handles it better, and I think we're going to be the team to do it."

Madilyn Reeves

"Just another game," Gardner-Colegate said simply. "It's another opponent that we've got to beat to accomplish our goal. Obviously, with the history with the coaching staff and some of the players, that can be a big deal. But we're going to really just try to focus on ourselves, our process and our game plan…

"I've told them many times: We're not always playing an opponent. We're playing ourselves.

"And when we play our best ball, we can beat anybody."

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Despite so much transition for Miami Softball heading into the 2025 season (including a brand-new coaching staff and losing seven of the nine hitters from last year's lineup), the RedHawks were adamant from day one that their goals wouldn't change.

"I had belief in this team since day one that we were going to accomplish our goals, because it is a Miami standard to do what we've done," Parks explained.

"It's Miami culture," Reeves said. "The coaches help instill the culture, but it comes from the players themselves. To be able to hold that together as a team is all that matters."

And with the confidence the RedHawks earned from achieving their first two objectives the way they did (rallying to win the MAC regular-season title in the final week of the season and then battling back from their first MACT loss in 2,190 days to still win the tournament), Miami now has its sights firmly set on goal No. 3: Advancing out of the regionals to the super-regionals for the first time ever. Mandy Gardner-Colegate MAC Tournament trophy

Mandy Gardner-Colegate MAC Tournament trophy

"Our main three goals as a team were obviously to win the regular season, win the tournament and then do something Miami softball's never done…make it to a 'super,'" Gardner-Colegate said. "We truly believe we can do this. We're excited about the regional we're in, and the preseason we scheduled with such tough Power Four teams [14 games against Power-Four opponents and seven games against 2024 NCAA teams] is prepping us for this exact moment.

"I can't wait to see us just continue to play Miami softball and shock the world, honestly."

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

Miami Softball opens the double-elimination Knoxville Regional on Friday at 1:30 p.m. against host Tennessee. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network, and tickets are available here.

'Pass the Bat': Inside Miami Softball's MAC Tournament Title

Players Mentioned

Mckenna Campbell

Ella Carter

Jenna Golembiewski

Holly Merritt

Chloe Parks

Erin Pinter

Madilyn Reeves

Karli Spaid

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