SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury softball travels to Edmond, Okla. on Saturday afternoon for the team's first doubleheader of the season against No. 14 Central Oklahoma.
The Panthers have dropped three straight after winning the four prior. They will have to face one of the hottest teams in the country, Central Oklahoma. The Bronchos have won eight straight, five of them in run-rule fashion.
The game can be streamed on the MIAA Network for $15 per game.
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 (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 had 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. Despite only having one hit at the Washburn Invitational, Nelson still leads the Panthers with a .343 average at the plate.
COCHRAN IN THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION
Landry Cochran saw her name appear on the NFCA's National Performers of the Week following her strong weekend at the Washburn Invitational.
Over the weekend, Cochran hit 6-for-10, including a 3-for-3 game against the host, Washburn. Cochran was also a perfect 2-for-2 on stolen bases while in Topeka. In the field, she had four putouts from her centerfield position.
Cochran was the first Panther to earn the honor since
AJ Agers did following the first weekend of the 2025 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 freshman.
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 do 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 125 games at the helm of the Panthers, she has a .560 win percentage with 70 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 102 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.
Following all of the Panthers' neutral site games and tournaments to open the 2026 season, Drury went 5-8.
SCOUTING THE BRONCHOS
The 14th-ranked Central Oklahoma Bronchos enter play on Saturday with an 18-4 record and have won eight straight. The Bronchos have played four games at home already this season, and they have won all four.
Central Oklahoma has a .355 batting average as a team, third best in the MIAA. The Bronchos .579 slugging percentage is the second-best in the league, only trailing Missouri Southern. UCO's pitching staff has struggled this season, giving up the third-most earned runs in the MIAA, 73. Despite the number of runs given up, UCO has struck out a league-best 177 batters.
Shelby Beard and Rylee Lemos are the regaining MIAA Pitcher and Player of the Week. Beard won three games in the circle for the Bronchos in their five-game weekend. She went 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA and struck out 22 batters in 16 innings. Lemos, the senior All-American outfielder, went 8-for-15 on the week with three doubles, a triple, and a home run. Jenna Jobe leads the UCO offense with a .394 batting average.
HOME RUN TRACKER (TOTAL HR - 5)
vs. Southern Arkansas (2/1)
Madi Divis (1)
vs. Central Missouri (2/6)
Gabrielle Bax (1)
vs. Arkansas-Monticello (2/7)
Claire Nelson (1)
vs. Fort Hays State (2/21)
Emma Niemczyk (1)
at Washburn (2/21)
Haley Bryant (1)
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers have their home opener on Tuesday, March 10, against Augustana with first pitch scheduled for 1 pm.
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
