DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — At first, Breanna Robinson didn't even consider softball a second option as a college sport.

Try telling that to pitchers who have spent this spring ducking when the Miami University senior outfielder swings the bat.

Robinson, who has raised her batting average by more than 100 points since last season, cracked three hits Friday, April 4, as the RedHawks split a doubleheader against Bowling Green, losing the opener 8-3 and then winning 11-3 in six innings at Miami Softball Stadium.

"Lately I've just been seeing the ball a lot better," said Robinson, who is batting .358 and already has established career highs with seven home runs and 32 RBIs after just 30 games.

"It's a lot about our hitting coach and about our group of coaches in general," she explained, referring to head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly and assistants Christina Sutcliffe and Kellyn Tate.

"It took a year of getting used to getting acclimated (to the new staff). There were new concepts we had to get to know. It's helped our whole offense. We put up 11 runs today and 11 the other day against Eastern Kentucky. The number of runs we've been scoring says it all."

The RedHawks can count themselves fortunate on two counts, on two decisions made by Robinson. First, when she decided to attend Miami, the same school attended by her older brother Ryne, who now returns punts and catches passes in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers.

And second, when she decided to try out for the fast-pitch squad as a walk-on.

"Coming into college I didn't know which sport I was going to play, whether I'd go to a junior college and play volleyball or come to a (Division I) college and play basketball," said Robinson, a graduate of Toledo Central Catholic High School. "I really loved basketball.

"I didn't know about my chances of competing," she added, "but I'd had an injury before, and I didn't know if it might come up again if I played basketball."

Robinson also had played a few years of softball, and her high school softball coach suggested that she choose that sport. During most of her youth, Robinson's summer sport of choice had been baseball.

"I played (youth) baseball for five years and I played with Ryne for four of those years," she remembered. "It was really neat. My dad coached us. It was a lot of fun. I got to play next to him sometimes."

Often when Ryne was playing second base or shortstop, the first baseman to whom he threw to was his own sister.

"There's always been that sibling rivalry, especially when you grow up playing similar sports," she said. "It drives me to work harder and it drives him to work harder. It gives me something to strive for."

The RedHawks, who are striving to win the Mid-American Conference title, stand 5-1 in the MAC, 14-16 overall. They continue conference play at home today, April 5, and Sunday, April 6, with a pair of games against Toledo.

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