Samantha Rubin, general manager of the Madison Night Mares and the Madison Mallards
By Katie Vaughn | Photography by Hillary Schave
Samantha Rubin will never forget opening day for the Madison Night Mares. The near-constant rain of June 2024 held off as 2,300 softball fans flocked to Warner Park to welcome the city’s new collegiate softball team.
“The community really showed up,” says Rubin, who moved to Madison in 2021 to become general manager of the Madison Mallards men’s baseball league and now also oversees the Night Mares. “We won 18 to 1, but that was just icing on the cake.”
While this summer brings the 25th season of the Mallards, it’s the second for the Night Mares, and Rubin can’t wait to get going. She’s excited about new head coach Lexi Godwin, who hails from the University of Oklahoma’s “softball dynasty” and a strong roster of players.
The Night Mares will also have more games, new jerseys and enhanced ticket options — including suites and the beloved Busch Light Duck Blind section — for certain games.
“We’re really going all in on year two,” Rubin says.
But Rubin’s work last season garnered attention. In 2024, the Northwoods League named her both Softball Executive and Baseball Executive of the Year, and awarded the Night Mares Softball Organization of the Year.
Rubin, who played both softball and basketball at her Clearwater, Florida, high school and rowed for the University of Florida, attributes the success to the culture she cultivates among her staff, coaches and players.
“The team atmosphere is No. 1,” she says. “That’s always the priority for me. There’s no sugarcoating it — the hours are long, it’s hot, it’s a demanding job. So, morale and how things are done matter.”
What has sports taught you?
Resilience. Sports teaches you from a young age that there’s a winner and a loser, and whichever one you are, that’s okay. There’s always another opportunity. Sports has taught me to pick myself back up and do it again, to try it again.
