OXFORD — Karli Spaid showed off the shiner that resonated around her left eye. How she got the bruise wasn’t necessarily her fault.
Well, kind of.
“I hit a ball too hard during hitting practice, and it bounced right back at me,” the Miami RedHawks senior third baseman said. “I hit a really good outside pitch up the middle.
“I guess I hit it so hard that I didn’t have time to move.”
Spaid is one of the many power hitters that have helped propel the Miami softball team through the season’s halfway mark.
Hitting the ball hard — and far — hasn’t been anything new for the RedHawks, who lead the nation with 73 home runs this season. Miami is also ranked first in scoring, home runs per game and slugging percentage.
RedHawks fourth-year coach Kirin Kumar said it’s put the program on the college softball radar.
“Is it a phenomenon? We’ve been doing this for three years,” Kumar said. “Now people are seeing it. Are we doing it better than we have been the past three years? Yes. But it’s only because the program that we’re creating, we’re continuing to do it. Now, some players are older. They’ve been in it.”
Spaid leads the country with 19 homers, and junior Jenna Golembiewski is right behind her with 18.
“It doesn’t matter what pitcher we see,” Kumar said. “I think they continue to work hard. They’re not satisfied, so that’s the biggest thing.
“Every team is different. Every team has their own unique identity. When we found ours, I think one of them is that they have to be loose and relaxed. In the past we’ve had a mixture. But this one is the whole time. They cannot get down on themselves, otherwise they won’t come out of it.”
BIG-TIME WIN
The RedHawks came back in three different instances Tuesday to knock off Louisville 8-7 on freshman Hadley Parisien’s walk-off double that brought home pinch runner Logan Mueller.
Spaid, Kate Kobayashi and Reagan Bartholomew each blasted homers to pace Miami at the plate.
“Mid-week in general is hard with classes and all that,” said Spaid, who holds numerous career RedHawks hitting records. “Being able to get the energy up for this one was super exciting — especially against Louisville. We play them every year. We kind of have a little rivalry going on. It’s been back and forth every year. So, it’s good to get this one for sure.”
“It’s a great win,” Kumar added. “I think for us it was the struggle at the beginning this year where we had leads against really good teams. Almost all the games that we lost except for two, we’ve had a lead, and it not only showed because Louisville is a great team, but it also shows that we can do it.”
Miami, which started the season off with eight consecutive victories, now sits at 19-6 overall (3-0 MAC) and is currently riding a six-game winning streak.
“Right now, I just think we’re playing that good,” Spaid said. “It’s all clicking. I think it’s the amount of trust that we have in our teammates — everyone, one through 20 has power and can see the ball and hit the ball really hard.”
Miami has reached the NCAA Tournament every season since Kumar was hired prior to the 2021 stint — amassing three Mid-American Conference regular season championships and winning two MAC tournament titles.
“I think we can get back there. I know we can get back there. It showed today,” Spaid said. “I think it’s not stressing about what you’re doing and just knowing that even if you don’t produce during an at-bat, a person behind you is going to go up and do it.”
‘PROCEED TO PARTY’
Multiple players waved a single red shirt around the dugout Tuesday. When that happens, it’s typically time to celebrate for the RedHawks.
“This keeps the energy up,” Spaid said. “We keep showing everyone that we’re meant to be here and we’re still as good as we have been recently. That’s been really exciting. Being able to believe in ourselves is a big thing.
“We like to party,” Spaid added. “So, every time we hit a home run, we party. We do a little chant.”
Kumar said her RedHawks were on a road trip at Oklahoma two years ago when they got ahold of a red T-shirt that reads “Proceed to Party.”
“We’ve just been waving it around ever since,” Spaid said.
“I don’t know if you can tell, but they’re even-keeled, except for certain things,” Kumar chimed in. “And one day, they hit a home run, and all of a sudden in the dugout, they’re like, ‘Let’s party.’ I turned and looked at them. You can see Kate who is the ringleader look at me, and I just smiled. So, from then on, it took off.
“That shirt, I got it for them because of what it said,” Kumar added. “They were like, ‘We need that shirt.’ It was red. It goes with them everywhere. I thought it was creative.
“The biggest thing is to just let them have fun and let me handle the stress — and you saw them do that today.”
