Miranda Lopez is entering her second season on the Southern Utah University coaching staff. Lopez boasts a wealth of playing experience. During her senior season in 2024, she started all 50 games for the T-Birds, collecting 26 hits, including five doubles, and driving in 10 runs. Her junior season was equally impressive, hitting .303 over 39 games and demonstrating solid fielding skills with a .929 fielding percentage.
Before transferring to SUU, Lopez played at Eastern Kentucky, where she started every game in both her redshirt freshman and freshman seasons. In 2021, she posted a .205 batting average with 11 RBIs and ten extra-base hits, including a standout performance at the NCAA Regional against Tennessee. As a freshman, she displayed solid defensive skills with a .986 fielding percentage.
Lopez was the recipient of the Natasha Watley Foundation Scholarship and has served as a coach and mentor at the Watly Foundation Softball Camps in Mexico. These camps gave her the opportunity to give back to the game and to help young female athletes. Her experience with the Natasha Watley Foundation camps, where she managed her own teams for two summers and worked clinics around the LA area to empower girls from underserved communities through softball, helped to develop Miranda's love for coaching. Additionally, her involvement in an international NWF clinic in Mexico City further expanded her passion for coaching and mentoring young athletes.
Lopez had an impressive high school career at Maranatha High School, earning multiple accolades, including Rookie of the Year and three selections to the first-team all-Olympic League squad. She was also part of the 2018 Olympic League Champions team and her school's first-ever CIF Quarter Finals squad.
In 2025 the Lopez helped the T-Birds to a third place regular season finish in the WAC and a second straight WAC tournament appearance. The Thunderbirds finished with a 13-11 conference record and had two players earn all conference honors. The 2025 team also surged academically with three players earning CSC Academic All-District honors.
