Hitting a walk-off is rare, let alone a walk-off to win a championship. Sarah Karmazyn ‘22 was the hero of the Muhlenberg softball team’s playoff success. She hit the walk-off homerun to win the Centennial Conference Championship against Swarthmore College and move on to the DIII NCAA regional tournament.
When reminiscing on her 2021 playoff run, Karmazyn said, “It was truly a remarkable and unforgettable moment. I still sometimes refuse to believe it was real. We had worked so hard as a team the entire season and to finally make it to the Conference Championships with the end of our [Class of 2022] careers on the line, we knew losing was not an option. We played two very long and hard fought games that day, and after seeing the ball go over the fence, a wave of emotions went through my body, mostly of joy and relief that the game was over. I don’t remember running around the bases until rounding third and seeing the team waiting at home plate; it is a core memory I would never trade for the world and will never forget.”
Karmazyn put up big numbers all season as the lead-off hitter for the Mules, with a .303 batting average, 44 hits and 18 runs batted in. However, she isn’t only amazing at what she does on the field, she is very motivated off the field as well. After graduation, Sarah used her accounting major to start a career in internal audit and study for the CPA exam.
Karmazyn has had a huge role in turning the softball program into a championship program. There isn’t much comparison between Karmazyn’s first-year campaign, which saw Muhlenberg softball earn an abysmal (3-13) Centennial Conference record, and her senior year. “From freshman year to senior year, the Muhlenberg softball program did a [full] 180, and a lot of this is because of Coach Maul [Sarah Leavenworth]. I have never felt so bonded to a group of girls on a team before. Coach Maul helped us develop our team goals, our individual mindsets and our Muhlenberg softball reputation.”
Leavenworth instilled trust and a championship mindset within the program which was ultimately the reason for the team’s successes. Karmazyn has left an enormous legacy at this program that the softball team will continue to build on year after year.
Karmazyn’s biggest advice to the current team is “Trust one another… No matter if you are a senior or if you are a freshman, trust is what builds a team and is the underlying theme for success,” says Karmazyn. “When you have trust in each other as teammates, on and off the field, it builds confidence not only for the team, but for each athlete individually.”
