Madison Williams

College Softball Program of the Day #011: Southeastern Fire .458 batting average. 13 home runs. A school-record 67 RBIs. One season. 2027 and 2028 players, if you think NAIA softball is a step down, look at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. In 2026 the Fire put together the best season in program history and played for a national title on the final day of the NAIA Softball World Series. The 2026 season by the numbers: - 51-10 overall, the best winning percentage in school history (.836) - 22-2 in The Sun Conference and the regular-season championship, the program's fourth and first since 2022 - 21-3 at home and 13-0 on the road - No. 2 seed at the NAIA Softball World Series, with wins over College of Idaho, four-time national champion Southern Oregon and Our Lady of the Lake - First trip to the NAIA championship round in program history, finishing as national runner-up after an 8-4 loss to Madonna The offense hit .327 as a team with a .397 on-base percentage and stole 107 bases in 115 attempts. The pitching was elite. The staff posted a 1.23 ERA, held opponents to a .208 average and struck out 328 batters in 376 innings. The stars produced. Raylei McKinney hit .458 with a .788 slugging percentage, 82 hits, 13 home runs and a school-record 67 RBIs. She was The Sun Conference Player of the Year, an NAIA First-Team All-American, an NFCA NAIA First-Team All-American and made the World Series All-Tournament Team. Maria "Fia" Zelenka went 19-3 with a 1.26 ERA and 164 strikeouts in 145 innings, hit .333 on the side and became the first pitcher in program history to win Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year twice. She was a First-Team All-American and made the World Series All-Tournament Team. Edan Playa went 18-6 with 12 complete games and a 0.96 ERA, a school single-season record, and was an NFCA NAIA Second-Team All-American. Ella Brooks hit .404, scored 61 runs, stole 46 bases in 48 tries and earned All-American honors from both the NAIA and the NFCA. McKinney, Zelenka and Playa were all juniors in 2026. Head coach Kayla Watkins built this. She completed her seventh season in Lakeland in 2026 and became the winningest coach in program history in March. The Fire have made five straight NAIA postseasons under her, with World Series trips in 2022 and 2026. Before Southeastern she spent two seasons as the top assistant at Southern Miss, running a pitching staff that led Conference USA with a 2.34 ERA, and was head coach at Bryan College, where she won a conference co-championship. As a player at Samford and Mississippi College she hit .330 and went 38-14 with a 1.54 ERA. Her staff: Madison Williams is a Southeastern alum who played on the 2022 team that won a program-record 52 games and reached the World Series. She hit .314 as a switch hitter, stole 67 bases for the Fire after two seasons at Florida State College at Jacksonville, and now works with the outfielders and assists with recruiting. Graduate assistant Jordan Moore started 112 games at third base for a Mississippi College team that went 91-21 over two seasons and reached an NCAA Division II Super Regional, and coaches the infield and hitters. The pipeline is Florida first. Twelve of the 20 players on the 2026 roster came from Florida, with the rest from Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Michigan and Indiana. The Fire also recruit transfers: the 2026 team included players who came from Chipola and Polk State in the junior college ranks and from four-year programs like Florida Gulf Coast, Eckerd and Mars Hill. @SEUFireSoftball @SEU_CoachWatknz @madwms7 @SunConference National Softball Recruiting | @NatlSBRecruit 2027 and 2028 players and parents, DM us "INFO" and we'll help you build a real list of schools and a plan to get seen.