The Howard University softball team took the motto ‘hustle, hit, and never quit’ to new extremes after earning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship title to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
“This is one of the best teams that the MEAC has had. And I say that with full confidence,” Tori Tyson, the program’s all-time winningest coach, said in a recent interview with Softball America. “This is a phenomenal group. And I am super proud of them, and this is a team that is pushed, that is battle-tested.”
According to Tyson, a period of “soul-searching” ensued after last year’s season ended with crushing losses to Coppin State [University] and the Lady Bulldogs of South Carolina State in the 2024 MEAC Championship.
Prior to last year’s loss, the softball team had a promising run, posting 32 wins – including a program-best win streak – and even entering the annual tournament as the fan-favorite after notably coming off a tournament title and NCAA berth in 2022.
“When you lose like that, it can be painful,” said Tyson, who was named head coach in 2019 and named this year’s MEAC Tournament Most Outstanding Coach.
With the lesson learned, Howard used the disappointment to put together the best season in school history. The Bison finished 2025 as regular season champs and then capped it off with the 2025 tournament title, following a 6-1 win over South Carolina State in the championship game.
In a season of firsts, it marked the first time that the team captured both the regular season and tournament titles.
The historically Black institution– or HBCU (historically Black college or university)– has earned the program a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, which gets underway on May 16 against the No. 14 Duke University Blue Devils in Durham, North Carolina.
“There were tough stretches, but it was a necessary part of the preparation to help us compete at that level,” Tyson told The Informer. “What we are doing is not just for the university. It is for the MEAC and HBCUs. No HBCU has won in the first round in 25 years. We want to shock the world.”
The Road to the Championship
With rigorous training and a team-instilled motto of “delayed, not denied,” this year’s Bison were determined to make a comeback.
“The workouts and conditioning set the tone for what we were set out to accomplish this season. It was challenging at first when we played those Power 4 programs early and took some tough losses. But all season, we had a mindset of battling back hard,” said Howard graduate student and pitcher Ameenah Ballenger.
Ballenger had an outstanding season and was pivotal in the tournament championship. After transferring from UMES (Maryland Eastern Shore), she finished the season at 12-5, making 30 appearances. During the MEAC, she was named the Tournament Most Outstanding Player after allowing only four hits against South Carolina State.
“Once I decided to transfer in, it hit me right away,” said Ballenger, who has a degree in kinesiology. “When you are a part of a group that works hard and has a team trust factor, success is possible.”
Other notable contributors include freshman outfielder Lauryn Jones, in addition to 10 seniors that have been a part of the program’s success with 83 wins in the past three years: first baseman Kenna Higa; catcher Alyssa Vasquez; shortstop Sidney Fletcher; pitcher Mia Gonzales; infielder Lealani Ricks; and outfielder Payton Quinonez.
“It has been an easy transition for me,” said Jones, a criminal justice major from Denton, Texas. “Because we had so many seniors on the team, it took pressure off me. I just followed their lead and found my niche. It allowed me to develop and contribute without a lot of expectations.”
For Tyson, these seniors helped her through a rough time after the death of her daughter’s father.
“When Dylan passed in 2022, the core of this group, they lifted me up… So they will always have a piece of my heart and my family’s heart. And it’s been such a blessing coaching them,” Tyson recently told Softball America. “I’m just trying to send them a reminder that I want them to go out and feel great about how they’ve left this program and they have certainly left this program better than they found it.”
The head coach put together a special plan leading up to Durham, as the team has played its most rigorous non-conference schedule, featuring nationally ranked teams in UCLA (No. 7), Nebraska (No. 17), Duke (No. 14), the team’s first-round opponent.
“From the start of the season, it has been a goal: To not only win the MEAC, and advance to the NCAA Tournament,” Tyson told The Informer. “We strategically put together a schedule that would prepare us for the moment.”
What a well written article about such a phenomenal team. 14 of these ladies were also All-academic with a gpa of 3.0 or higher.
It would be great if what’s left of the CC would come out and support the Howard teams, especially the women team because they are definitely putting on for the community.
Articles like this should be on the front page!!! These ladies made history across the board for the DC Community. They were down there clocking wins while their class was graduating. That’s dedication and sacrifice. We need to be tuning in and supporting on May 16 on ESPN+ and a regular local station.