SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The second weekend of the Drury softball season opens on February 6 against Central Missouri in the Alvy Early Memorial Classic in Bentonville, Ark.
The weekend opens on Friday against Central Missouri. The Jennies are 4-0 to start the season after a strong showing at the Lone Star Classic. Drury is 5-7 all-time against Central Missouri; the two have never played at a neutral location.
Later Friday, the Panthers will meet with No. 24 Missouri Southern. The Lions are currently 5-0 and have not had a game this season decided by more or fewer than two runs. The regaining MIAA Pitcher of the Year, Kiki Pickens, was out of the bullpen in week one of the season. Drury dropped two last season to Missouri Southern and trails the all-time series 12 to 15.
Saturday morning, Drury will face off with St. Edward's for the first time in program history. The Hilltoppers are winless entering the weekend. Three of the four pitchers that appeared for St. Edward's in the Lone Star Classic allowed at least six runs.
The weekend will close with Arkansas-Monticello. The Blossoms are 3-1 to open the season. Monticello opponents have committed 16 errors so far this season, with seven of those errors coming against Upper Iowa. The Blossoms upset No. 11 Central Oklahoma in the Branson Lead-Off Classic last weekend.
STORYLINES
TOUGH SCHEDULE
Drury's schedule features nine teams that made the NCAA Division II Tournament a season ago, including two from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), Indianapolis and Lewis.
The GLVC Regular Season Champions will play over 61% of their games away from Thompson Field, including the first 15 games on the road or at neutral sites.
There are five preseason NFCA top-25 teams and one receiving vote team on the Panthers schedule, headlined by preseason No. 9 Augustana in the home opener.
DRURY VS. THE TOP 25 (0-0)
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.
RIGHT AT HOME
There were four newcomers for Drury that got a start in the opening weekend:
Claire Nelson,
Haley Bryant,
Jordan Meng, and
Emma Niemczyk. Those four accounted for 41% of Drury's hits in the Lone Star Classic, led by Nelson and Bryant with six apiece. They also either drove in or scored nine of the Panthers' 15 runs scored in the opening weekend.
Kenna Trower and
Kirsten Peterson have now started more games this season than they did a season ago. The two have started a combined 15 games in their careers, and just five games into this season, they have already accumulated nine total starts.
The additions of Nelson, Bryant, Meng, Niemczyk, Trower, and Peterson in the Drury lineup have produced baserunners. The six are responsible for 56% of the Drury hits this season.
PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS
Expectations for Drury are through the roof after the program's first-ever regular-season GLVC title in 2025. In the 2025 season, the Panthers made their deepest run in the national tournament in program history. Drury went 2-2 in the national tournament before bowing out to the eventual Midwest Regional Champion, Saginaw Valley State. The Cardinals are NFCA preseason No. 5 nationally.
Drury was voted to finish second in the GLVC preseason coaches poll, only behind NFCA preseason No. 22 Indianapolis. Second is the highest the Panthers have been picked in the preseason since the 2023 season, when they were also voted to finish second.
RETURNING FOR MORE
The pitching for the Panthers will be one of the most experienced in the GLVC. Drury returns 69% of their strikeouts and 66% of their innings pitched from last season, led by
Jordyn Foley, who struck 69 out in 126.1 innings pitched during her first season in Springfield.
Natalie Wilks only pitched in 56 innings last season but posted a 6-2 record. Wilks and Foley will be one of the top one or two punches in the GLVC to open the 2026 season.
42% of Drury's hits from 2025 return for the 2026 season, led by
Landry Cochran with 45 hits.
Kaley Adzick ended her season at the plate on fire. Adzick was 2-3 in the regional tournament elimination game against Findlay with 5 RBIs. Drury also brings in a number of newcomers who will be prominent in the Panthers lineup, with
Jordan Meng from the transfer portal and
Claire Nelson and
Emma Niemczyk as freshmen.
The defense will be anchored by sophomore
Reece Anderson, who was second in NCAA Division II during her freshman season with 160 assists from the shortstop position. She will be next to
Gabrielle Bax at third base. Bax had 84 assists last season, the second most of the returning Panthers. The Drury outfield does not return two of three every day starters from the 2025 season. Look for
Landry Cochran roam centerfield with
Kenna Trower in left and
Emma Niemczyk in right.
NOTES ON COACH G
Brooke Gajewski has the highest winning percentage among all-time Drury softball coaches. Through her first 117 games at the helm of the Panthers, she has a .564 win percentage with 66 wins. She has 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 is two wins away from 100 career wins. She won 32 games in her one season as the head coach of Milwaukee School of Engineering (NCAA-III) before her move to Drury.
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.
SCOUTING THE JENNIES
Central Missouri started the season 4-0, all in the Lone Star Classic. The Jennies won by an average of two runs in their opening weekend. In the Lone Star Classic, Bailey Brumley led Central in the batter's box. Brumley hit .385 with two homers and five RBIs. The senior also threw two innings in the circle for the Jennies. Andi Siebeneck threw the most innings for Central Missouri in their opening weekend. Siebeneck posted a 1.24 ERA in two starts. One of her starts was a complete game against Midwestern State. UCM was picked to finish fifth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
Missouri Southern started the season ranked 24th in the nation. The Lions had a 5-0 record to start the season in the Lone Star Classic. No game in the opening weekend for the Lions was decided by less than two runs, with the closest game being the first game of the season against Texas Woman's, 5-3. Bailey Dillon had 11 hits in the opening weekend, good for a .611 average. Dillon was a triple short of the cycle against Cameron. Emily Davis pitched 17.1 innings in the Lone Star Classic with a 0.81 ERA. Against Southern Nazarene, she threw a complete game one-hit shutout. Her performance was good enough to win the MIAA Pitcher of the Week. The Lions also have the regaining MIAA Pitcher of the Year, Kiki Pickens, on their staff. Pickens appeared in two games out of the bullpen in the opening weekend.
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
St. Edward's is the only winless team that the Panthers will play this weekend. The Hilltoppers went 0-4 in the Lone Star Classic, allowing at least four runs in all of their losses. Darian Deleon was 5-for-11 in the opening weekend of her junior season. The St. Edward's pitching staff struggled in the Lone Star Classic. Three of the four pitchers that appeared for the Hilltoppers allowed at least six runs. Two of the four allowed at least ten hits. St. Edward's averaged one error a game in the opening weekend, with three of the four errors coming against Missouri Southern.
SCOUTING THE BLOSSOMS
Monticello went 3-1 in their opening weekend with an upset win over No. 11 Central Oklahoma in the Branson Lead-Off Classic. Their lone loss came to Missouri S&T in extra innings, 10-9. Aubree Goodnight had five hits in her eight at-bats in Branson last weekend in three games. Dacia Sexton led the Blossoms with six hits in 16 at-bats. Both Jadyn Barger and Kyleigh Benton threw a complete game in the opening weekend. Barger's complete game came against No. 11 Central Oklahoma, where she gave up four hits and four runs. Monticello opponents recorded 16 errors in the first four games of the season, seven of them from Upper Iowa and five from Minnesota Crookston.
HOME RUN TRACKER (TOTAL HR - 1)
vs. Southern Arkansas (2/1)
Madi Divis (1)
TOTAL HOME RUNS – 1
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers are off next weekend before heading to Topeka for the Washburn Invitational. Drury will meet with Fort Hays State on February 21.
FOLLOW THE PANTHERS
For all the latest information on Drury athletics, please visit
drurypanthers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Panthers on
X,
Facebook, and
Instagram.
#OneDrury
