MANSFIELD, Texas – Drury Softball opened the 2026 campaign with two losses in the Lone Star Classic in Mansfield, Texas against Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Western.
 
GAME ONE
Kaley Adzick got the first hit of the season for Drury in the top of the first inning but was left stranded at first.
 
A leadoff walk for Northwest Missouri and a stolen base put Alexis Brown on second base. The Bearcats laid down a sac bunt to put Brown on third base. Omara Love singled up the middle to score Northwest's first run of the season.
 
The offense went quiet until the third inning. Kenna Trower forced a seven pitch walk and advanced to second on an Emma Niemczyk walk. After Trower was caught stealing and Niemczyk stole second, Landry Cochran singled to left field to score Niemczyk for the Panthers first run of the season.
 
Cochran drove in another RBI in the top of the fifth inning to score Trower and give Drury a 2-1 advantage.
 
Northwest Missouri threatened in the sixth inning with Karine Morrison advancing to third after pinch running for Jaeleigh Darnell. Morrison was left stranded after Natalie Wilks came out of the bullpen and struck the final two batters out of the inning.
 
Drury went down in order in the top of the seventh inning with a one-run advantage. Northwest would knot the game up at two after another Omara Love at-bat scored Alexis Brown and send the game into extra innings.
 
There was no action in the eighth inning. The Panthers went down 1, 2, 3 in the top of the ninth. In the bottom half of the inning, the Bearcats singled and stole second to lead the inning off. A ground out advanced Mlnarik to third base. Two batters later Northwest walked it off on a single up the middle to win it 3-2.
 
GAME ONE NOTES

• Landry Cochran and Haley Bryant both were 2 for 3 in the box accounting for four of the five.
• Cochran was responsible for both runs that scored with two RBIs. Emma Niemczyk and Kenna Trower scored the two runs.
• Kaley Adzick was 1 for 4 from the plate.
• Jordyn Foley got the start in the circle for the Panthers. Foley threw five innings, giving up three hits and one run. She struck out three.
• Natalie Wilks threw 3.2 innings in relief. Wilks gave up four hits and struck out six. She received the loss.
• Kaylee Cords and Curstin Todd both had two hits to lead Northwest Missouri.
• Omara Love recorded two RBIs.
• Rien Moore picked up the win for the Bearcats. She pitched six innings out of the bullpen with 10 strikeouts in 22 batters faced.
• With two outs, the Panthers were 1 for 9. Northwest was 2 for 10 in two out opportunities.
• The loss was Drury's first extra inning loss since March 2, 2025 when they lost to 4-3 to Minnesota Duluth.
• Drury has now started 0-1 in three consecutive seasons.

 
GAME TWO
Missouri Western opened the game with a home run from Kalee Higdon in the first and added another run on an RBI single from Rachel Cain in the second inning to take an early 2-0 lead over Drury.
 
Gabrielle Bax doubled to give the Panthers their first baserunner of the third inning. Kenna Trower singled the next at bat to score Bax and tighten the game to one run, 2-1.
 
The fourth inning was quiet for both teams. Drury tied the game at two in the fifth after Haley Bryant singled to start the fifth inning. Bryant advanced to third on a Trower double two batters later. A sac fly from Madi Divis scored Bryant to knot it at two.
 
The Griffons put the nail in the game in the top of the sixth with a two RBI single from Higdon to score Brooklyn Clark and Sienna Reed, giving Missouri Western the 4-2 win after Drury was unable to get another to work on the offensive side in the sixth or seventh.
 
GAME TWO NOTES

• Drury was held to six hits in the game led by Kenna Trower with two hits in four at-bats.
• Kaley Adzick threw a complete game, allowing six hits and four runs. Adzick struck out three in the loss.
• Two Griffons had two hits, Kalee Higdon and Rachel Cain.
• Torie Sandoval started for MoWest, going 4.1 innings and allowing two runs. She got the no decision.
• The win went to Harley Pruetting. Pruetting threw 2.2 innings out of the bullpen of no hit softball.
• Drury struggled with runners in scoring position, hitting 1 for 8 in those situations. The Panthers had five opportunities with runners on third with less than two outs. Drury had no hits in those situations.
• This is the first time the Panthers have lost back-to-back regular season games since March 22 and 23 against Indianapolis and Illinois Springfield.
• Drury is 0-2 to start the season for the third consecutive season.

 
UP NEXT
Drury will play their third game of the Lone Star Classic on Saturday against East Central at 4:15 pm.
 
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