FAMU Softball Ends 9-Year Drought, Makes HERstory

The Florida A&M Rattlers woke up at 5 a.m. all season long, and on May 9, they finally got their championship wake-up call.

FAMU's softball team beat Southern 2-1 in a walkoff thriller to win their first SWAC Tournament championship. The victory ended a nine-year conference title drought that had haunted the program since 2017.

This wasn't just any win. The Rattlers had lost in the championship round two years in a row to Jackson State, falling short in 2024 and 2025 before finally breaking through.

"We live, breathe, and cry Orange and Green," said pitcher Samantha Smith, the tournament's Most Valuable Player. "So waking up at 5 a.m. was worth it."

The championship carries extra weight for a program that once dominated its former conference. Under legendary coach Veronica Wiggins, FAMU won 13 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles from 1993 to 2017, more than any other team in MEAC history.

When the Rattlers moved to the SWAC in 2021, they had to build a new legacy from scratch. Second-year head coach Brittany Beall knew what was at stake.

"To follow the steps of Coach Wiggins and make history as champion in the SWAC is huge," Beall said. "This is going to be the first of many."

The Ripple Effect

The championship didn't just give FAMU a trophy. It gave them something bigger: respect and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament's Gainesville Regional.

The team will face No. 6 seed Florida on May 15, just two hours from their Tallahassee campus. Outfielder Neriah Lee, who earned All-SWAC Tournament honors, knows what this moment means for everyone who believed in them.

"I don't think I've ever been part of history," Lee said. "We've been chasing this the last two years, and it was just a matter of time for us to get over that hump."

The Rattlers expect a packed house in Gainesville, with fans driving from across Florida to watch their team compete. Beall's hometown of Mount Dora and her former coaching home of Eustis are also nearby, meaning the Orange and Green will have plenty of support.

Smith says the team's secret weapon isn't just talent. It's their ability to celebrate small wins and stay selfless, lessons that carried them through the tournament's double-elimination pressure cooker.

Now the first FAMU softball team to win the SWAC gets to write the next chapter, and they're bringing their 5 a.m. work ethic with them.