CHADRON, Neb. – After a rivalry series that saw three of four contests decided by one run, Chadron State softball will have a quick turnaround for a road doubleheader before returning home for just the second time all season.

The Eagles (8-12, 5-11 RMAC) will have their only scheduled midweek games of the season when they travel to take on Nebraska-Kearney (9-11, 1-3 MIAA) for a nonconference doubleheader on Wednesday at 12 and 2 p.m.

Then, CSC will return home to take on MSU Denver (17-7, 12-3 RMAC) for a four-game RMAC series in Chadron, with first pitches slated for 12 and 2 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday. 

Wednesday's doubleheader is available to stream on pay-per-view on the MIAA Network. Saturday and Sunday's contests will be available for free on the RMAC Network. Live stats will be available for all games. 

Looking Back
Chadron State took on Black Hills State, the second-place team in the RMAC, and dropped three of four contests with three games decided by a single run.

RECAPS: Games 1-2 | Games 3-4

Chadron State lost by 5-4 and 4-3 margins during Saturday's two contests. The Eagles salvaged a win in the series finale, taking a 2-0 lead after three pitches on a two-run home run by J'lyssa Martinez and winning 3-2 behind a complete-game, five-hit, two-run outing from Broomfield, Colorado senior Kenzi Garner in the circle. 

Baca Blasts
Cleanup hitter and first baseman Ashland Baca had a monster day on Saturday against Black Hills State. The graduate student went a combined 5-for-6 across both doubleheader games and hit a three-run home run in each contest for a total of six RBI. 

The Yellow Jackets wanted no part of Baca the next day, as she walked in all three at-bats during the first game on Sunday. 

Baca now has five home runs on the season. She leads the team and is tied for sixth in the RMAC with 23 runs batted in.

Seven For Two-Seven
Third baseman Lauren Zimmerman hit another home run during the BHSU series and now has seven home runs on the season, putting the senior in a five-way tie atop the RMAC leaderboard. 

Five of Zimmerman's home runs came in a three-game stretch, as the senior left the yard in game three of the New Mexico Highlands series on February 24 before recording back-to-back multi-homer games in the finale against NMHU and the series opener against UCCS on March 1. 

Zimmerman has also been a hot starter this season. Hitting third in the order, three of Zimmerman's seven blasts have come in the first inning so far this year. 

Stat Snapshots
With 21 home runs on the season, Chadron State ranks third in the RMAC and 21^st in Division II. The Eagles have had nine different players hit a home run, including Brogan Allen, who hammered a pinch-hit homer last Monday for her first career long ball.

Offensively, the Eagles rank seventh in the RMAC in batting average (.293), eighth in on-base percentage (.362) and sixth in slugging percentage (.452). 

Among individuals, J'lyssa Martinez ranks third in the conference in batting average (.474) and fourth in OBP (.559). Lauren Zimmerman ranks tied for first in home runs (seven), sixth in slugging percentage (.781) and eighth in OPS (on-base plus slugging, 1.222). 

Belle Akins leads Chadron State and ranks ninth in the RMAC with a 2.86 ERA. The true freshman has been used in a fireman relief role, making nine of her 11 appearances out of the bullpen. Tori Haug ranks sixth in the RMAC with 38 strikeouts. 
Chadron State ranks eighth in the league with a .951 fielding percentage. Eagle catchers have thrown out six base stealers in 32 attempts.

No-Hitter
On February 24, in her first career RMAC start, freshman pitcher Belle Akins threw a five-inning no-hitter against the New Mexico Highlands Cowgirls. 

The no-no is only the second in recorded history for the Eagles and the first since Christina Lewis threw one in the 2011 season. During her no-hitter, Akins allowed just two walks for the only baserunners of the day and struck out six Cowgirls, including the first and last hitters of the game. 

The following day, Akins was honored as the RMAC's Pitcher of the Week.

RMAC Polls
Chadron State was picked to finish 10^th in the 12-team RMAC in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own team. The Eagles also finished 10^th in the RMAC last season with a 12-28 record in conference play. 

Defending league champion Colorado Mesa was picked to win the RMAC again this season, receiving eight of 12 first-place votes. Colorado Christian received two first-place votes and finished second in the poll while MSU Denver and Regis each got one first-place vote and came third and fourth, respectively. 

The final two RMAC Tournament positions according to the preseason poll went to CSU Pueblo in fifth and UCCS in sixth. The remainder of the poll featured Colorado School of Mines, Fort Lewis and Black Hills State ahead of the Eagles, while Chadron State finished above New Mexico Highlands and Adams State in preseason voting.

Scouting Nebraska-Kearney
The Nebraska-Kearney Lopers have a 9-11 record so far in the 2025 season. They began conference play this past weekend by splitting a doubleheader against Central Missouri and then losing 5-2 and 2-1 (eight innings) to Missouri Western State. 
The Lopers were picked 11^th of 13 schools in the MIAA preseason poll. They finished in 12^th out of 14 schools with a 6-20 conference record during the 2024 season, going 18-31 overall. 

The Lopers are led by Alyssa Fortik, who has a .373 batting average, and Mary Chvatal, who hits .345. UNK only has hit three home runs as a team all season, all by Rylyn Nelson. The Lopers have struggled offensively to a .233 team batting average.

Nebraska-Kearney has been a good pitching team all season, however. The Lopers have three pitchers with over eight appearances, and all three have an ERA of four or lower. Jerzie Schindler leads the way with a 2.59 ERA in 11 appearances, seven of them starts, totaling 48.2 innings pitched.

Head Coach Katie Ackermann has been at UNK since the 2020 season. Ackermann led the Lopers to their first postseason berth in a decade in 2022. She is a Chadron State alum and spent one season as an assistant coach at CSC, while also previously serving as an assistant coach at McCook CC.

Scouting MSU Denver
The MSU Denver Roadrunners are 17-7 overall with a 12-3 RMAC record. Picked third in the RMAC Preseason Poll, the Roadrunners earned a key four-game split with projected first-place team Colorado Mesa and are 10-1 so far against the rest of the league. 

After dropping the first two games of the series against Mesa, MSU Denver won the last two to kickstart a nine-game win streak that included a sweep of Adams State and three wins against Colorado School of Mines before the Orediggers snapped the streak by winning the series finale. 

The Roadrunners lead the RMAC with a .366 batting average and are tied for fourth with 20 home runs. Senior catcher Jaiden Geist is off to a scalding start, hitting .489 with a .528 on-base percentage while junior two-way player Jenna Medhus is batting .476 with a team-high .976 slugging percentage. 

In the circle, the Roadrunners rank third among RMAC teams with a 3.53 ERA. Sophomore Natalie Romero (6-2, 1.93 ERA, 61.2 IP) has taken the lion's share of innings, but Medhus (2-2, 4.15 ERA, 30.1 IP) and junior Cheyenne Prieto (5-2, 4.28 ERA, 36 IP) are also contributors. 

Roadrunner head coach Annie Van Wetzinga is in her 13^th season at MSU Denver and has over 500 wins in her career as a head coach. Van Wetzinga has led the Roadrunners to three NCAA Tournament berths, two RMAC Tournament championships and a regular season RMAC crown. 

Coach's Corner
After previously serving as Chadron State's head softball coach from 2008-2017 and helping out the program as a coaching assistant for the past two seasons, Dr. Robert Stack will serve as CSC's Interim Softball Coach for the 2025 season. 

Stack has been a math professor at CSC for the past 26 years and was previously RMAC Coach of the Year in 2014. During Stack's head coaching career, he led an Eagles program that had not qualified for the RMAC Tournament prior to his tenure to four conference tournament appearances. Stack's teams set a new school record for wins in three of his last four seasons as coach (2014, 2016 and 2017), with the 32 wins by the 2017 team still standing as the program season high. 

Stack has also mentored two RMAC Pitchers of the Year (Casey Williams in 2010 and Tayler Hall in 2016) as well as two RMAC All-Academic Players of the Year (Williams in 2009 and Cassie Humphrey in 2010) and a two-time RMAC Summit Award winner (Breeze Phillips in 2014 and 2016).