AKRON — Jenna Golembiewski said it’s all about playing Miami RedHawks softball at this point.
They certainly did Thursday afternoon.
Golembiewski went 2-for-2 at the plate — adding a highlight-reel catch in center field — and the top-seeded RedHawks beat the No. 4 Ball State Cardinals 6-3 in the Mid-American Conference tournament at Firestone Stadium.
“That was a big start for us,” said Golembiewski, a senior. “Just got to keep the momentum going.
“We played Miami softball all the way around — pitching, defense, hitting. We just need to keep showing up.”
Miami (32-23), which won its sixth straight MAC regular season title, faces No. 2 Ohio at noon Friday in Akron.
“We’ve got two more,” first-year RedHawks coach Mandy Gardner-Colegate said. “Two more wins, and we’re going back to regionals. So, we’re really pumped. RedHawks are hot. We’re playing our best ball right now. We’re really confident. We’re feeling good.”
Kaylee Oh jumpstarted Miami in the bottom of the first with a triple down the third base line that brought Shelby Kunkel across the plate, which gave the RedHawks a 1-0 lead.
Mckenna Campbell’s single to left-center scored Oh to make it 2-0. Holly Merritt doubled to the center field wall, scoring Campbell and Jenna Golembiewski upping Miami’s lead to 4-0 in the first.
Ball State got a run across in the top of the second on an RBI single, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
Golembiewski made a leaping catch in center field to rob a Cardinals home run in the top of the fourth to keep the game at 4-1.
“I just always got to have my pitcher’s backs,” Golembiewski said. “Madi Reeves was pitching a good game, and I just needed to do anything I could to keep them off the board.”
The Cardinals cut the margin to 4-2 in the top of the fifth with a sacrifice fly, but Golembiewski drove Chloe Parks in the bottom of the fifth on a single up the middle to make it a 5-2 game.
“I was just focusing on seeing strikes,” Golembiewski said. “I went into this weekend not proud of the season that I’ve had, and this is the last final time I can show off a little bit. I just went in with a clear mind and was able to do what I could do for my team.”
Kunkel hit a solo homer over right-center in the bottom of the sixth to up Miami’s lead to 6-2. Ball State (32-17) hit a home run in the seventh before the RedHawks closed it out.
“I just felt like we played really well on both sides of the ball,” Gardner-Colegate said. “Madi Reeves with a great start. Léa (Chevrier) coming in to get the save to finish us out. Pitching did really well.
“Defense had their back, which was awesome. We saw some great plays behind them. Offensively, we hit the cover of the ball, which has been fun. We had a lot of situational hitting, two out situational hitting. Just really proud of how they came out from inning one and just took it to them.”
Oh went 3-for-4 at the plate, and Kunkel went 2-for-3. The RedHawks had five extra-base hits in the game.
Reeves pitched five innings in the circle to secure the win. The sophomore allowed just one earned run, struck out two and did not allow an extra-base hit.
Chevrier pitched the final two innings, allowing one run on two hits and struck out two.
“Having obviously that bye (Wednesday) was great — having one less game kind of on our belt,” Gardner-Colgate said. “Then coming into tomorrow, no matter who we’re going to play, we’re going to come at them hard — play our game and just never quit until the final out is played.”
