SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury softball returns to the diamond on Saturday afternoon in Topeka, Kan., for the first of four games in the Washburn Invitational.
The Panthers open the weekend by putting their three-game winning streak on the line against Fort Hays State. The Tigers are 2-3 this season. Drury and Hays will be playing for the first time since 2011. The Tigers lead the all-time series three games to two.
Following the game against Hays, Drury will face the host Washburn on Saturday. The Icabods are 13-2 and riding a six-game winning streak. The Panthers and Icabods have not played since the 2017 season, with the all-time series knotted at two apiece.
Sunday morning, Drury meets with one of their most played MIAA opponents all-time, Emporia State. The Hornets and Panthers have met eight times over the last four seasons. Emporia holds a 6-4 record entering play this weekend, but has dropped back-to-back games.
The final neutral-site regular-season game that Drury will play is against Northwest Missouri State. The Bearcats and Panthers opened each other's season on Jan. 30. The Bearcats took that meeting 2-1 in nine innings. Northwest Missouri is now 8-5 and 5-1 in its last six games.
PREGAME NOTES
DRURY VS. THE TOP 25 (1-0)
Last season, Drury was 4-3 against teams in the top-25. The season was highlighted by a sweep of No. 25 Pittsburg State at home, the highest-ranked sweep in Drury history.
The Panthers also picked up splits with No. 8 Augustana and No. 20 McKendree. The third loss was the second game of the season in a neutral-site loss to No. 20 Southern Nazarene.
Drury has only faced one top-25 team this season, No. 24 Missouri Southern. The Panthers downed the Lions 2-1 on Feb. 6. As of Feb. 19, MSSU is up to No. 7 in the country, and the loss to Drury is their lone loss on the season.
CLAIRE NELSON DOMINATE START
Claire Nelson has had one of the hottest starts to a college career in program history.
Nelson has 11 hits through her first eight career games. It is the second most in a freshman's first eight games behind Mandy Burnett, who had 13 in the program's inaugural 2008 season. Burnett also holds the record for the most hits in a freshman season at 58. At the rate Nelson is on right now, she would have nearly 70 hits in her freshman campaign, which would be fourth all-time in Panthers history.
She hit her first career home run to tie the game against Arkansas-Monticello at four in the seventh inning, while also going four-for-four in the game. Four hits in a game is the Drury single-game record, happening 30 other times. Nelson's early-season presence at the plate has played a pivotal role in Drury's start and three-game winning streak entering the weekend at Washburn.
NOTES ON COACH G
Brooke Gajewski has the highest winning percentage among all-time Drury softball coaches. Through her first 121 games at the helm of the Panthers, she has a .570 win percentage with 69 wins.
Following her second season, Gajewski had 65 wins, the most wins of any Drury softball coach in their first two seasons. Chantiel Wilson is second with 62 wins, followed by Jerry Breaux with 56.
Gajewski passed 100 career wins against St. Edward's on Feb. 7. The win did not come easy as the Panthers had to walk it off in the bottom of the seventh from an
Isabel Ervin single to score
Reece Anderson. 32 of Gajewski's now 101 wins came during her time at Milwaukee School of Engineering.
ROAD WARRIORS
Drury will be road tested early in the 2026 season. The Panthers' first 15 games will be played away from Thompson Field. There are 31 total games for Drury away from Springfield.
In
Brooke Gajewski's first two seasons, Drury is 34-30 in games that are true road games or neutral sites.
The Panthers have yet to have a true road game this season, but in neutral-site games, Drury is 4-5 with three more games this weekend and their first true road game against Washburn.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Fort Hays State is 2-3 entering play at the Washburn Invitational. The Tigers won their first game of the season against East Central and their most recent against Harding, dropping the middle three. Hays will play three games in Topeka before they face the Panthers, Minnesota-Crookston, Montana State-Billings, and Rockhurst.
In the five games Hays has played this season, Hannah Green is hitting a team-high .529 in 17 at-bats. Green has produced two extra-base hits and seven runs scored. In the circle, Solana Carpenter has started three games. Carpenter has a 1.70 ERA and a 1-0 record. She is the only Tigers pitcher who has an ERA below 7.00.
SCOUTING THE ICABODS
Washburn is one of the top teams in the state of Missouri. The Icabods have posted a 13-2 record over their first 15 games this season and have won six straight. The most recent loss for the Icabods was on Feb. 7 against Southeastern Oklahoma State, 7-0 in Bentonville. Washburn was held to only four hits in that loss.
Two Icabods are hitting over .400 this season, Makenzie Sais (.469) and Kate Ediger (.422). The duo has combined for 42 hits, 7 extra-base hits, and 14 RBIs. Sadie Walker and Kierra Goos are the starting pitchers for Washburn. The two have started 14 of the 15 games this season. Walker has thrown two complete games, and opponents are only hitting .216 against her. Walker has also thrown three shutouts and holds a 7-0 record. Walker is the reigning MIAA Pitcher of the Week. Goos has a 5-1 record and a 2.42 ERA in 37.2 innings of work.
SCOUTING THE HORNETS
Emporia State has dropped back-to-back games entering the weekend. The Hornets still hold a 6-4 record, including two run-rule wins. Half of the Hornets' wins this season have come against GLVC teams: Lewis, William Jewell, and Truman State.
The Emporia State pitching staff has led them early in this season. There are four Hornets pitchers who have thrown at least ten innings, led by Hannah Butterbaugh. Butterbaugh is 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA. She has primarily appeared out of the bullpen but has started two games this season. Offensively, Emporia has Brooke Flewelling. In Flewelling's sophomore season, she was an Honorable Mention All-MIAA at third base. This season, she has already hit four homers, stole two bases, and is hitting .389.
SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
A rematch of the season opener for both teams will be the Panthers' final neutral-site game of the regular season. Northwest Missouri State won the first meeting of the season 3-2 in extra innings. The Bearcats are now 8-5 on the season and were on a five-game winning streak until they lost to Maryville in extra innings last weekend.
Northwest's catcher, Kaylee Cord, is hitting .415 this season. She had two hits against Drury in the first meeting of the season and one of her 13 RBIs. Cord and Curstin Todd were the only two Bearcats with multiple hits in that Jan. 30 meeting. Jadyn Streigle started that game, but Rien Moore was the winning pitcher after she struck out ten batters in six innings of relief.
MILESTONE WATCH
Reece Anderson is nine assists away from her 200th career assist. She currently is tenth all-time in Drury career assists. Six assists would move her to tied for ninth, and eight would move her to tied for eighth.
Jordyn Foley is 23 strikeouts from her 100th career strikeout at Drury.
LOOKING AHEAD
This weekend is the Panthers' final neutral site game of the season. Drury will travel to No. 17 Central Oklahoma on March 7 for a doubleheader against the Bronchos.
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