MIAMI NOTES

MAC and NCAA -- Tale of two tourneys for MU

By MIKE SMITH
Soon after its final out in the NCAA tournament, Miami softball effectively began its transition to 2025. With a big "senior" class leaving, reshaping the roster will be a priority if MU wants to remain a MAC powerhouse -- let alone address the additional goal of succeeding at the NCAA tournament level. As with any other sport, who knows what will happen with the portal, and who knows what else will happen in the NCAA sporting world??? 

The 2024 team put itself in the record books, and such assaults on history are relatively rare. However, good programs can make a habit of having successful seasons. Such has largely been the case under Head Coach Karin Kumar. 

The RedHawks have won five straight regular season championships and recently captured their third consecutive Mid-American Conference Softball Tourney title. 

The latter, accomplished in a three-game sweep, raised MU's record to 48-7 and sent Miami forward to another NCAA Regional Softball Tourney appearance. 

After going 2-2 in NCAA play . . .

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. . . in 2023, with shutout wins over Eastern Illinois and Kentucky, there was optimism about the 2024 squad's chances to shine at the Knoxville Regional. However, Miami went 1-2, with the only win (4-0) coming against Dayton. 

The RedHawks won that game despite getting outhit 8-4, and the four hits were more than MU totaled in two losses against Virginia ace Eden Bigham. She shut out one of the NCAA's best offenses twice. The first was a 2-hit 7-0 verdict. Miami beat Dayton the next day and Virginia was run-ruled by Tennessee. That setup another MU vs UVA matchup, and Bigham shutout the RedHawks 6-0 on one hit.

Suffice it to say the rest of the Mid-American Conference was taking notes, hoping to identify anything that resembled Miami's kryptonite.

Bigham was a multi-time winner of ACC Player of the Week honors and was a big part of the Cavaliers' series win against No. 3 Duke (April 19-20). That same Duke team just finished winning a super regional and is now headed to its first College World Series. 

Even if Miami didn't have much on Bigham before the first MU vs UVA meeting, the RedHawks certainly should have understood her repertoire the second time around. 

Offhand, much of Bigham's success against MU seemed to come on high riseballs and changeups/drops down in the zone. They were certainly well-called games as UVA kept Miami off-balance while taking advantage of MU's aggressive offensive approach. Combined with excellent control, Bigham was able to do what no other pitcher could do in 2024 - hang a pair of zeros in the Miami run columns. 

Perhaps the sophomore was just a bad matchup for MU. It happens. Time will tell if the RedHawks cross her path again, but Miami will no doubt be hoping to earn another NCAA opportunity in 2025. 

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MAC TOURNEY
When Miami won the 2023 MAC softball regular season title, it also earned the right to host the MAC tourney. 

MU again prevailed in the 2024 season, losing just one conference game.along the way. However, it did not host the subsequent conference tournament. This year's event was held in Akron. The Firestone Stadium site previously hosted MAC tourneys from 2002-2005 and  2008-2019. 

Although it was built in 1925, Firestone Stadium (capacity of 4,576) was renovated in 1998 and 2022. The $1.47 million project included installation of field turf. 

That's a different surface for softball players, who have typically spent their entire careers on sites with dirt infields. Combined with rainy conditions, the change might have presented some challenges in Miami's Thursday opener versus Toledo. The RedHawks committed four errors. However, UT played errorless softball. 

Toledo had Miami down 4-0 midway through the fourth inning. All four Rocket runs were unearned. 

Asked about pitching on turf, freshman Madilyn Reeves and sixth year hurler Addy Jarvis indicated their experience throwing off mats indoors during practices sessions gave them something of a feel for pitching off the flat surface (i.e. no "push off" holes) at Firestone Stadium. 

A bigger issue might have been wet game balls. Reeves, in particular, had to deal with very rainy conditions. 

"It's a little difficult," she said. After every ball in play, you had to trade the ball and get a new one. There's a chance they don't have a new one, (so) we got plenty of wet balls handed back to use ... At some point, you just have to get used to it and run with it."

The lengthiest rain delay, however, may have helped Miami regroup as the RedHawks came back to score five runs over the last four innings while Reeves kept UT scoreless over the last three innings. 

"I just had to buckle down and hold it for them," Reeves said. 

"If we can (hold opponents) to three runs or less, then we should win any game," Jarvis chipped in. "They don't need to score 10 runs for us to win every game." 

After coming back to edge Toledo, Miami beat Ohio 3-1 (again with Reeves in the cicle). Jarvis tossed a shutout in the final as MU finished the tourney title run with an 8-0, five inning victory over Ball State.