Sunday, March 9 – Maryville, Mo.
Augustana at Northwest Missouri State, 2 p.m./4 p.m. (Doubleheader)
MIAA NETWORK | LIVE STATS
 
The Northwest Missouri State University softball team (10-9 overall) will play its home-opening doubleheader at 2 p.m. Sunday against the Augustana Vikings (10-4 overall).
 
Northwest was originally slated to play an MIAA doubleheader at Nebraska-Kearney on Friday, March 7, but it was postponed by winter weather until March 22.
 
Northwest and Augustana met last week on March 2 at the Midwest College Classic in Shawnee, Kan. Augustana scored a 3-1 win over the Bearcats.
 
The Bearcats have been jumping out early on the competition this season. The Bearcats have outscored the opposition in the first two innings of games, 45-9. In fact, Northwest has scored 30 first-inning runs, while allowing only seven first-inning runs. Northwest has posted 98 runs this season and has allowed 70 runs. Northwest is batting .320 as a team with 173 hits.
 
The Bearcats possess a 3.15 team earned run average through 19 games. Bearcat pitchers have struck out 96 batters.
 
Junior Omara Love leads the Bearcats in batting with a .420 average. She also tops the squad in hits (29), stolen bases (8), extra-base hits (11), doubles (9), triples (2) and RBI (15). Love ranks No. 6 in the nation and leads the MIAA in doubles (9). Love ranks No. 4 in the MIAA in hits (29). Love has struck out three times in 69 at-bats. Love has produced 29 multi-hit games in her career and six games of three hits or more. Love has garnered 10 two-out hits this season. Love enters Sunday's doubleheader vs. Augustana riding a 10-game hitting streak.
 
Junior Gaige Pinkerton ranks second on the team with a .417 batting average. Pinkerton ranks No. 3 in the MIAA in on-base percentage (.542). Pinkerton has reached base in six straight games and owns a four-game hitting streak.  
 
Junior Alexis Brown is third on the squad in hitting (.403). Brown has posted eight multi-hit games this season. Brown has collected 22 career multi-hit games. Brown tied a Bearcat single-game record by recording five hits in a 7-6 win over Illinois-Springfield. It is the sixth time in school history a Northwest softball player has recorded five hits in a game. Prior to Brown's feat against UIS, Lindy Tomlinson was the last Bearcat to achieve a five-hit game as she did it against Central Missouri on March 29, 2001. She was named the MIAA Hitter of the Week after she went 11-of-15 at the Alvy Early Classic.
 
Senior outfielder Lillie Filger has scored a team-best 20 runs and is batting .380. Filger has led off an inning with 18 hits this year. Filger had a four-hit game in Northwest's 15-1 win over Southwest Baptist (March 1). She is credited with 56 multi-hit contests as a Bearcat. Filger has produced 16 three-hit games in her Bearcat career. Filger has tallied 173 career hits with a career average of .400 in 123 games in a Northwest uniform.
 
Senior Skylar Pieper leads the Bearcats in home runs (2). She ranks tied for No. 6 on the team with a .340 batting average. Pieper has 38 multi-hit games in her Bearcat career. Pieper has five multi-RBI contests this season.
 
Freshman pitcher Rien Moore is 5-0 in 23 1/3 innings of work and leads the team with 24 strikeouts. She leads the MIAA in ERA (0.60) and fewest hits allowed (14). Moore ranks third in the MIAA in lowest opponent batting average (.169). Moore has allowed only two extra-base hits (two doubles) against 102 batters this season. Moore has allowed four runs (two earned) on the year.
 
Sophomore pitcher Olivia Moyer has struck out a team-high 23 batters in 27 1/3 innings of work in the circle. Moyer is 1-4 with a 3.59 ERA. Moyer has made five starts this season.
 
Senior pitcher Cassidy Paulson recorded her first career shutout in a 5-0 win over Minnesota-Crookston. Paulson scattered eight hits and notched her second complete game of her Bearcat career. Paulson is 2-2 with a 2.92 ERA this season.
 
The Bearcats have posted back-to-back winning seasons for head coach Naomi Tellez with 28 wins in 2023 and 28 victories in the 2024 season. Northwest secured its first winning MIAA record (15-11) in 2024 for the first time since a 16-10 mark in the 2018 campaign.
 
Tellez is in her fourth season at the helm of the program and has generated 81 wins, including 35 triumphs in MIAA action. Tellez has an overall record of 81-94. She is 35-43 in league games.
 
The MIAA coaches projected Northwest to finish seventh in the preseason league poll.
 
2025 MIAA SOFTBALL PRESEASON POLL
1. Rogers State [7] – 139 points
2. Central Oklahoma [6] – 137 points
3. Pittsburg State – 120 points
4. Washburn – 111 points
5. Missouri Southern – 85 points
6. Missouri Western – 83 points
7. Northwest Missouri State – 79 points
8. Emporia State – 71 points
9. Central Missouri – 69 points
10. Fort Hays State – 48 points
11. Nebraska Kearney – 32 points
12. Newman – 26 points
13. Northeastern State – 14 points