Belhaven University’s storybook softball season added another triumphant chapter Friday when the Blazers soundly defeated Wisconsin-Oshkosh 10-2 to sweep the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional at jam-packed and steamy Jim McCleod Field in Jackson.
That chore accomplished, Coach Kevin Griffin’s Blazers are 42-10 and winners of 10 of 12 in post-season. The team advances to the NCAA Division III World Series next week at Salem, Virginia. It will be the Blazers’ second trip to the national championship series in the past three years.
Can they win it all?
“That’s the goal. That’s always been the goal,” answered a smiling Liberty Gallahan, the junior right fielder from McComb, who doubled, tripled, scored twice and knocked in three runs Friday to earn MVP honors for the super regional.
Gallahan, the granddaughter of long-time Parklane Academy football coach Charlie Newton, had doubled home a run in Thursday’s 5-1 first game victory.
Belhaven players celebrate with Coach Kevin Griffin. Credit: Allan Innman/Belhaven University
As for winning it all: “Absolutely, we can,” said junior pitcher Macy Funderburk of West Monroe, Louisiana, the winning pitcher in both super regional games, who bettered her season record to 20-5.
Funderburk, who says she is 5-foot-4 and might be in heels, struck out 11 and walked only two in 12.1 Super Regional innings.
“I might be little, but I’m all muscle,” Funderburk said. No doubt, she pitches much bigger than she is.
“Macy spins it really well,” Griffin said. “When she hits spots and moves it in and out, she is really effective. Her rise ball jumps and keeps hitters honest. I’m proud of how she battles and competes.”
Griffin earlier this season earned his 500th victory as Belhaven’s coach and has enjoyed a most rewarding spring. This Belhaven team, which he calls “the most talented” he has ever coached, could achieve the school’s first national championship.
Belhaven’s Liberty Gallahan is interviewed after a win on Friday, May 22, 2026, in Jackson. Credit: Rick Cleveland/Mississippi Today
And then, there’s his son, Pittsburgh Pirates star Konnor Griffin, the most exciting and perhaps the best young player in Major League baseball. Konnor Griffin signed a nine-year, $140 million contract shortly before turning 20 on April 24. Since then, he has hit .348, with nine extra base bits, two home runs, 12 runs batted in and six stolen bases. Kevin continues to be his son’s personal hitting instructor, watching every Pirates game and discussing Konnor’s at-bats in post-game phone calls.
Kevin did miss several Belhaven games earlier in the season, dealing with his son’s contract negotiations and attending a few of Konnor’s first Major League games.
“I don’t know if any other coach around has juggled as much as I have this spring,” said Kevin Griffin, who also serves as Belhaven’s associate athletic director. “And I surely couldn’t have done it without my outstanding assistant coaches and the character of our players. Honestly, my players would have been mad if I hadn’t been there for Konnor and missed those five or six games.”
Funderburk, the pitching hero, said of her coach’s absence earlier in the season, “Of course we understood. Besides, we’re Konnor’s biggest fans. We watch him any time we can.”
“Family comes first,” said Gallahan, the Super Regional MVP. “Besides, we know what Coach expects from us. We knew what we had to do.”
And they have done it. Now, there’s one last step. As Griffin put it his post-game talk to his team: “We’re not through.”
