2016 MAC Softball Championships Get Underway At Akron's Firestone Stadium Today
AKRON, Ohio - MACtion kicks off in Akron Wednesday morning as the 2016 MAC Softball Championships get underway at Firestone Stadium.
MAC Softball Championship Central
MAC Softball Championship Bracket
Championships Preview Video with Coaches
MAC Softball Championship Day 1 Schedule
No. 5 Western Michigan at No. 4 Northern Illinois, 10:30 AM (
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No. 8 Central Michigan No. 1 Kent State, 1:00 PM (
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No. 7 Toledo at No. 2 Miami, 3:30 PM (
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No. 6 Akron at No. 3 Ohio, 6:00 PM (
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Team-By-Team Championship Previews
#1 Kent State: After taking over as interim head coach just prior to the start of the academic year, Eric Oakley has been outstanding at the helm for the Golden Flashes. Under Oakley's guidance, Kent State won the MAC Regular Season Title for the second straight season and enters the conference tournament with a 35-20 (16-7 MAC) record and has won the fourth-most games in school history. The team's success under his watch earned him 2016 MAC Softball Coach of the Year as voted on by the 12 coaches of the league.
Kent State has played well towards the end of the season as it has won 9 of its final 10 conference games. During the team's hot streak. juniors Maddy Grimm and Ronnie Ladines have led the team at the plate and on the mound.
A native of Stahlstown, Pa., Grimm was the MAC leader with 24 runs scored, 9 home runs and 57 total bases in conference games. Her .814 slugging percentage was second and she ranked among the top 5 in batting average (.371), on-base percentage (.482) and walks (14). Grimm added 4 doubles and 16 RBIs while becoming Kent State's career leader in home runs and RBIs and setting a single-season record for runs scored.
A threat in the circle and at the plate, Ronnie Ladines elevated her game down the stretch, going 7-1 with a 0.44 ERA, 41 strikeouts, 7 walks and .180 opponent batting average in 47.2 innings over the final 10 games of the conference season. She threw 33.1 consecutive innings against conference foes without allowing an earned run at one point, which included a stretch of 27.2 scoreless innings. Ladines went 10-5 in league play with four shutouts, 91 strikeouts and 10 complete games.
#2 Miami: This is the 10th consecutive season Miami has qualified for the MAC Tournament. During the past nine seasons, the RedHawks have had a lot of success, going 15-15 at the event, while winning titles in 2009 and 2012. (Miami has also won the tournament one other time, in 2005). Last season, the RedHawks were the third seed. They opened the event with a 6-4 win over Northern Illinois. They then dropped games to Ball State (8-5) and Western Michigan (5-4) and were eliminated from the tournament. All-time, the Red and White are a combined 27-20 at the MAC Tournament.
Miami enters the 2016 MAC Tournament with a 30-21 overall record and a 15-7 record in the MAC. The ‘Hawks finished only a half-game behind Kent State, who won the MAC Regular Season title at 16-7. Miami is coming off a three-game sweep at Buffalo to complete the regular season last weekend. For the RedHawks to make a run in the tournament, they will need to have big weeks from their top two players in 2016 MAC Softball Player of the Year Taylor Shuey, as well as First-Team All-Conference pitcher Amber Logemann.
#3 Ohio: The third-seeded Ohio Softball team (33-21) opens the 2016 Mid-American Conference Tournament on Wednesday, May 11 when the Bobcats take on the sixth-seeded Akron Zips (29-23-1). The Bobcats’ 33-win season is the second-most victories in program history. The Bobcats have picked up a number of impressive wins this season, including No. 12 Kentucky on March 29. Ohio has also defeated Texas Tech, Marshall, NC State, Indiana and won the NC State DoubleTree RDU Invite.
In the circle for Ohio is 2016 MAC Pitcher of the Year Savannah Jo Dorsey who has a 1.66 earned run average this season while also holding on to a 21-11 win-loss record. Dorsey has also recorded 294 strikeouts, which leads the nation, in 210.2 innings pitched. Dorsey is five strikeouts away from setting a new mark for strikeouts in a single season. The previous mark is 298, which is currently held by Dorsey.
Leading the way for Ohio at the plate is Taylor Saxton. Saxton has recorded a .351 batting average in her 171 at-bats and 54 starts. Saxton leads Ohio in hits with 60 and is 35-of-42 on stolen bases. Her 35 stolen bases are second all-time in program history for bases stolen in a single season.
#4 Northern Illinois: Having accomplished a major regular season goal by earning the program’s first MAC West title since 2000, the Northern Illinois University softball team now heads to Akron, Ohio this week with its sights on an even larger objective: winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship at Firestone Stadium against a field of the league’s top The Huskies (33-18, 13-10 MAC) were powered this season by seniors Emily Naegele and Kayti Grable this season who were both First-Team All-MAC selections. The dynamic duo combined to hit 25 home runs and 101 RBI.
2016 Freshman of the Year has grown up quite quickly for the Huskies and become the ace of the pitching staff. Her 1.91 earned run average in MAC play ranks third in the conference, helping NIU to a 2.29 team ERA, which ranks second in the league. The Oakville, Mo. native has a 6-4 record with two saves and six complete games, along with two shutouts. She has allowed 79 hits, while striking out 67 in MACtion contests.
#5 Western Michigan: Western Michigan concluded the regular season with a 21-26 overall, 12-10 MAC record. The Broncos finished second in the MAC West Division, a half of a game behind Northern Illinois (13-10 MAC record). The Broncos were picked fourth in the MAC preseason poll. WMU has a .270 batting average and a 3.48 team ERA, lowering the team ERA to 2.70 against league opponents.
The Broncos will look to a lot of upperclassman leadership to make a run in this championship. Four Broncos were honored as All-MAC selections on May 10. Senior pitcher Allyson Kus, senior 2B Melissa Palmer and senior SS Sabrina Gamboa all earned First Team recognition and junior 3B Kelsea Cichocki was named to the Second Team. The three First Team selections is the most for WMU since 2011. For Palmer, it was her third All-MAC recognition of her career as she also earned Second Team nods in 2013 and 2015. For Cichocki, it is her second-straight season on the Second Team.
#6 Akron: The sixth-seeded Akron softball team prepares for post season action as the Zips are set to go up against the No. 3 seed Ohio in the first round of the 2016 Mid-American Conference tournament on Wednesday, May 11, at 6 p.m. Akron finished the year in the MAC with a 11-10-1 record en route to securing the No. 6 seed. Overall the Zips finished 29-22-1 overall, their best record since 2009.
Second Team All-MAC selection and Nan-Harvey Award winner Erin Seiler will be leaned on heavily during the championships as she has all season. Through 53 games of the 2016 season, the senior has set career program records. The Zips pitcher is now the program leader in career wins (84), appearances (164), complete games (114), and innings pitched (965.2), as well as numerous other categories she set last year.
Nationally she ranks 4th in shutouts (10), 8th in wins (25), 15th in strikeouts (218), and 40th in ERA (1.76). In her career she has pitched 965.2 innings, the NCAA record for innings pitched in a career is 1,448 set by Monica Abbott from Tennessee (2004-07).
#7 Toledo: The Rockets concluded the regular season with 13-straight victories (nine MAC wins) for an overall record of 21-31 (12-11 MAC) and come into the championships as one of the hottest teams. In the circle, senior Marla Gooding leads the Rockets with a 3.42 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 200.2 innings pitched. Gooding has made 40 appearances, hurling for 21 complete games and winning 18.
First-Team All-MAC selection Junior 2B Chandler Rice holds a .325 batting average. She has tallied a team-high 26 RBI and five home runs, while also recording 49 hits and scoring 25runs.Jessica Lemieux remains one of Toledo's top offensive threats this season as well. The Banks, OR native holds a .370 batting average with 60 hits through UT's 52 games. Lemieux has scored a team-high 34 runs and recorded 91 total bases. The senior leads the team in stolen bases (30), doubles (13), triples (3), and slugging percentage (.562).
#8 Central Michigan: The Chippewas (24-25-1) are seeded eighth and will take on top-seeded Kent State (35-20) in their opener on Wednesday at 1 p.m. A year ago, the scenario was the same - CMU was seeded eighth, the Golden Flashes first - and the Chippewas knocked off Kent State, 1-0, in the tourney opener. Kent State swept CMU in a three-game series in late March, outscoring the Chippewas 20-3.
Both of those results, longtime CMU coach Margo Jonker said, are like last winter's snow: Gone and forgotten.
"Going in, I think it's anybody's tournament," said Jonker, who is in her 37th season as CMU's coach. "It's whomever wants it the most, who's on a hot streak, and whose pitcher gets hot." She also added, "Those are the things that are going to determine the winner, not so much the seeds because I think we're all pretty even. The regular season is over. Now it only matters where we're at in the tournament."
The Chippewas are among the hottest teams in the league on the eve of the tourney, having won nine of their last 12 conference games.
