Entering the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament, Miami won 10 of their last 12 games and entered as a No. 3 seed, looking to become the first team to repeat as MAC Champions since Central Michigan did it four times in a row between 1999 and 2002.
Miami's first opponent in the tourney was the sixth-seeded Huskies of Northern Illinois University (NIU) who had won both regular-season matchups against the RedHawks in DeKalb, but had finished the season 10 games under .500, including a 10-10 mark in the MAC during the regular season.
Meanwhile, the Red and White finished the regular season with a 14-8 mark in the MAC and an overall record of 31-22. But after losing the first game of the tournament to NIU 6-5, the RedHawks knew that they had their work cut out for them if they were going to repeat as MAC Champions.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy," sophomore third baseman Daniela Torres said. "We just wanted to take one game at a time and continue to keep playing defense and fighting hard."
Miami bounced back after their opening game with a statement 17-1 win over Buffalo, marking the most runs ever scored in MAC Tournament history and making Miami's senior class the winningest class in school history.
The following day, the Red and White squeezed by Central Michigan with a 5-4 victory, as freshman designated hitter Taylor Rice drove in sophomore right fielder Jordan McElroy in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. It was Rice's only hit of the game and gave Miami a lot of momentum as they prepared to face off against Northern Illinois once again that night in their third straight elimination game.
However, the RedHawks were not able to overcome the Huskies' rally as NIU scored two runs in the final two innings to beat Miami 5-4.
The Red and White finished the season with 33 wins, which is tied for the fourth-most in school history.
In addition, senior shortstop Sarah Billstrom, senior pitcher Meredith Linch and junior second baseman Meghan Mawn were named First-Team All Conference, while Daniela Torres and sophomore pitcher Jessica Simpson were named Second-Team All Conference. Senior left fielder Alicia Hogl was awarded the MAC's Nan Harvey Sportsmanship Award and was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Jordan McElroy.
"Our seniors left this program having the most wins during their career," Head Coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly said. "They left their mark and have set the standard for teams to come. All six seniors will graduate and leave with championship rings, so they can leave here with their heads held high."
Next year's squad will only have three seniors compared to the six on this year's team.
"We will be quite a younger team next year, but we were in a similar situation during the 2009 season and won the championship, so each team comes to the table with different strengths," Schoenly said. "This team may feel like they came up a little bit short, but they worked hard at the process all year and represented Miami with a ton of class and I could not be more proud of them."
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