TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — “If you know the time, you know the vibe,” Florida State softball catcher Michaela Edenfield tells her nearly 126,000 TikTok followers at the start of her game day videos. “It’s time to do some razzle dazzle on my eyes.”
This is Edenfield’s cue to fans that she’s about to bring her creative vision to life. With makeup as her medium, she is an artist at work, recording and sharing “get ready with me” videos that have accumulated hundreds of thousands of views and more than 4 million likes
Edenfield uses palettes of candy-colored eyeshadows, small pots of face paint, tubes of liquid glitter, and occasionally, some rhinestones, to deliver dramatic looks fit for the stage.
“It’s the mental preparation behind closed doors,” she explained, “and every high-level athlete has their own way of finding that.”
The 6-foot-1 redshirt senior is FSU’s starting catcher and a key contributor at-bat, sitting third in the program’s career home run standings (52). But for all of Edenfield’s success as a player, it’s the “razzle-dazzle” she brings to the diamond that has truly captivated the softball community.
This artistry has become an essential part of her pregame routine.
“Makeup’s very satisfying, and it takes away from the pressure of the anxiety building up,” she told ESPN.
Edenfield and the Seminoles are now gearing up for the NCAA softball tournament. As the No. 5 overall seed, they have secured home-field advantage for the next two rounds. FSU’s quest to the 2025 Women’s College World Series begins on Friday against Robert Morris (2:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network) in the Tallahassee Regional.
Edenfield’s game day preparations will begin — as they long have — with makeup. Makeup once served as Edenfield’s “war paint,” protecting her from bullies and societal beauty standards. Today, it is just one of the many ways she embraces her individuality.
“It took me a while to translate ‘different’ into ‘unique,'” Edenfield said. “Owning the word ‘unique’ has really changed my mindset, both on the field and in my daily, personal life.”
THOUGH THE TOWN of Sneads, Florida, is an easy one-hour drive from Tallahassee, it feels a world apart. Towering pines give way to a community that constitutes just 4.4 square miles of the forested Florida panhandle. Sneads is bisected by Route 90, but cars cross gently with the help of a few blinking yellow traffic lights.
In the spring, a large share of Sneads’ 1,700 residents make their way to the local ballfields at the edge of town. The local park is flooded with athletes of all ages, throwing, catching, hitting and running. Members of the Edenfield family once did the same.
Edenfield’s mom, Tami Powell, and older sister, Aliesha, both played softball. Her aunt Teresa Fecteau even competed for the Florida State team from 1997 through 2000. But during Edenfield’s earliest years, she favored the artistic over the athletic.
“I refused to have dirt in between my fingers,” she said.
Edenfield grew up with a close relationship to her grandparents and was influenced by their creativity. Her grandfather, Roy, had a passion for photography, and her grandmother, Mary, owned a quilt shop in town. Soon, she was learning to paint, sew and play the piano. One year, she participated in the Little Miss Sneads pageant, wearing a pink lace dress made by her grandmother. Usually, however, Edenfield found herself on her own.
“As a little girl, I felt kind of discriminated against,” she said. Edenfield is biracial; her mom is white, and she does not have a relationship with her dad, who is Black.
