Why college softball’s best pitcher turned down hundreds of thousands to stay at Belmont
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Maya Johnson remembers them all, every slight, even if they weren’t intended that way and came from her closest people. The Belmont senior pitcher and All-American, of course, can tick off the schools that didn’t recruit her out of Columbia Station, Ohio.
She’ll never forget the one that landed her, Pittsburgh, refusing to clear her to play as a freshman because of her struggles with lupus, a chronic disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own organs. She recalls her mother, Kristen Johnson, begging her to come home and rest after a semester of college. And her father, Ryan Johnson, trying to keep her pitching ambitions somewhat measured as the left-hander aspired to be the best while dealing with a condition that was diagnosed when she was 15.
MAYA JOHNSON WITH 17 STRIKEOUTS TO CLOSE IT OUT😤 That’s the most strikeouts for Maya in an MVC Championship game, and ties for 2nd-most all-time in a MVC Championship game🤯 #ItsBruinTime pic. twitter. com/tvAJS5M3BY — Belmont Softball (@BelmontSoftball) May 7, 2026 “She’ll still put that in my face every once in a while, like, ‘Dad, remember when you didn’t believe in me?
’” Ryan Johnson said. “No, that was not the crux of what I was saying! ” Johnson, who will lead Belmont against Southeastern Louisiana in Friday’s Tuscaloosa Regional opener, just got a little bump from her coach.
Laura Matthews wanted Johnson to remember, before facing Illinois State in last weekend’s MVC tournament, that the Redbirds are a high-contact team. That’s how they had scratched out eight hits and two runs, striking out just eight times, in handing Johnson one of her two losses on the season in April. That’s why she needed to prepare to miss fewer bats than usual and not get frustrated by it.
Continue to the original source for the full article.