The Miami softball team (34-24) beat Marshall (38-20) 5-2 for the Mid-American Conference Championship Sunday, advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time in Miami's 31-year history of its softball program.
Two Miami players received all-conference honors, and three players received all-tournament honors. The RedHawks team is second in strikeouts in MAC history with 412, on the verge of beating Central Michigan's 413 pitched in 2002.
Miami will play Tennessee in Knoxville Friday for the NCAA regional round. Because the round is double-elimination, Miami will face either College of Charleston or Virginia Tech in a second game.
After Miami and Ball State won their respective divisional titles in baseball during the weekend, the Mid-American Conference announced its East and West Division baseball Players and Pitchers of the Week on Monday.
Kent State third baseman Andrew Davis was named the East Division Player of the Week for the second time in his career. The sophomore helped Kent claim a series win over Western Michigan when he went 6-for-13 with three RBIs and four runs scored.
Another sophomore, Keith Weiser, of Miami, was named the East Division Pitcher of the Week for the second time this year and fourth time in his career. Weiser improved his record to 7-0 on the season after giving up only one run to Northern Illinois.
Ball State outfielder Mike Sullivan shares West Division Player of the Week honors with Bowling Green outfielder Nolan Reimold.
Sullivan, a junior, led his team for the week with ten runs scored, seven RBIs and four bases stolen. He also tallied a school-record four doubles in a single game against Xavier and made two game-winning runs in different games during the week.
Nolan, also a junior, hit a homerun in each of three straight games against rival Toledo and tied a school record with eight RBIs in one of the games.
Ball State's Ben Snyder and Northern Illinois' Brian Smith share West Division Pitcher of the Week honors, both freshmen receiving the honor for the second time this season.
Snyder threw his first career nine-inning complete-game shutout against Marshall on Saturday. The red-shirt freshman struck out seven batters.
Smith pitched a complete-game win over East Division champion, Miami, who had only two divisional losses in the 13 games it played prior.
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Leslie Heck
