EMPORIA, Kan. — The Northeastern State University RiverHawks claimed a 7-4 victory over the Northwest Missouri State University softball team in the opening round of the 2026 MIAA Tournament.
The Bearcats season comes to an end with a record of 31-20. The RiverHawks improved to 27-20 and advanced to the quarterfinals to take on No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma on Thursday.
Northwest generated 11 hits, including three-hit performances from senior
Omara Love and sophomore
Kiara Schaub.
In the first inning, Love singled to left field and later scored on a two-run homer by
Kaylee Cords, giving Northwest an early 2-0 lead. Northeastern responded with four runs, taking a 4-2 lead by the end of the inning.
In the second inning,
Curstin Todd advanced to third on a wild pitch and later scored on an RBI single by Schaub, narrowing the gap to 4-3. The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the third when Northeastern extended its lead with a three-run inning, aided by a two-RBI triple by Ashlynn Turner. This pushed their advantage to 7-3.
The next three innings saw no change in the score as both teams were kept off the board. In the seventh inning,
Alexis Brown reached base and was driven in by Love's single, adding a run for Northwest. Cords singled with two outs to put runners on first and second. However,
Sara Farlow's grounder to third ended the game as Love was forced out.
Jadyn Streigle started on the mound for Northwest, pitching 2 2/3 innings and allowing six earned runs on eight hits, while striking out three batters. Streigle was tagged with the loss, marking her record at 15-9.
Rien Moore entered in relief and delivered a strong performance, pitching 3 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit, and striking out three. Moore's efficient outing included 47 pitches with 31 strikes, and she issued only one walk.
NOTES:
Omara Love's three hits give her 215 in her career to rank No. 7 in program history ... Love completed her career ranked with the sixth-best batting average in school history ... Love batted .363 with 215 hits in 592 at-bats ... Love's 65 hits this season rank as the eighth-best single-season total in program history.
