Belmont pitcher Maya Johnson on collision course with Alabama in NCAA Tournament
One of the best pitchers in college softball plays for Belmont. Lefty ace Maya Johnson leads the NCAA in ERA with a 0.66 mark while battling lupus.
The numbers are hard to argue with. For the past few years, Maya Johnson has been one of the best pitchers in college softball. But she might be the most talented player that casual fans of the sport know the least about.
She isn’t highly-paid in a Power 4 conference like Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady. She isn’t playing both ways at a high level like Nebraska’s Jordy Frahm. And she isn’t throwing as hard as Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens is in the SEC.
REQUIRED READING: Five teams feeling the heat as the 2026 NCAA Softball Tournament begins Johnson hasn’t grabbed the headlines like those players, but she’s still one of the sport’s top aces. Consider that she led all of Division I in ERA this season with a wildly impressive 0. 66 mark.
Entering the NCAA Tournament, the 6-foot lefty also ranks third nationally in hits allowed per seven innings (3. 41), sixth in total innings pitched (201), first in shutouts (14), first in strikeout-to-walk ratio (11. 91), first in total strikeouts (381), first in strikeouts per seven innings (13.