CHADRON, Neb. – After a season-opening trip to Texas, the Chadron State softball team will play in the state of Nebraska for the first time when they visit the Wildcat Dome in Wayne for a Good Life State triangular.

The Eagles (0-5) will play two split doubleheaders against their in-state Division II rivals. Chadron State will face Wayne State (0-0) at 11 a.m. and Nebraska Kearney (3-2) at 4 p.m. on Saturday, before facing UNK at 9 a.m. and Wayne at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday (all listed times MT, local time is CT).

A free live stream is scheduled to be available on the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) network, with live stats also available online.

Looking Back
The Eagles went 0-5 on their Texas road trip, but played quality competition including No. 1-ranked UT Tyler, No. 13-ranked Angelo State and another reigning NCAA Tournament Qualifier in Saint Martin's.

RECAPS: Friday | Saturday | Sunday

The Eagles came close to winning Saturday's contest against the University of St. Mary's (TX), rallying from a 2-0 deficit to tie the score in the seventh inning when pinch-runner Elia DeLozier scored on a wild pitch and Payton Sullivan came through with a two-out RBI single to score Elizabeth Thorngren. The Rattlers answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh to walk it off. 

Three of CSC's other four games were shortened to five innings while the fourth (against Texas A&M International) ended in six innings.

Bright Starts
Albion, Nebraska true freshman Payton Sullivan had a dream start to her college career, hitting a home run to left field in her first collegiate at-bat leading off the third inning against Saint Martin's.

A week into her college career, Sullivan is hitting .273 (3-for-11) with a team-leading 2 RBI, collecting one on her solo homer and one on the game-tying single against Saint Mary's. 

Elizabeth Thorngren had the best offensive week of any Eagle, batting .417 (5-for-12) with two runs scored and six total bases (tied with Sullivan for the team lead). Thorngren recorded multi-hit games against both Texas A&M-International and St. Mary's.

Thorngren is one of four Eagles with a .500 on-base percentage, but her 14 plate appearances are by far the most of that group. Also getting on base at a .500 clip: Tiffani Mein (4 PA), Amber Boland (4 PA) and Isabella Crown (2 PA). 

Straight In
Of the 25 innings played by Chadron State in weekend number one, 15.2 were pitched by true freshmen. 

Brynn Trujillo, who hails from Commerce City, Colorado, pitched the most innings on the roster at 9.2 across three appearances with one start. Her finest performance came in her first collegiate start against St. Mary's, when she pitched all 6.1 innings of the ballgame and allowed just three runs (two earned) on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. 

McKenna Sides, a Seward, Nebraska native, made two starts against Texas A&M International and Angelo State and went three innings in each. Sides allowed 16 runs, only 12 earned, across her six innings and kept the ball in the zone with only one walk across that time frame.

In the Polls
The Eagles were picked 11^th in the RMAC Preseason Poll, one year after finishing ninth.

Colorado Christian, the reigning RMAC regular season and tournament champs, were picked to win the league again, receiving 7 of 12 first-place votes. Colorado Mesa placed second in the poll, receiving three first-place votes, while MSU Denver came third and garnered the other two first-place votes. 

The rest of the poll features UCCS, CSU Pueblo, Colorado School of Mines, Black Hills State and Regis rounding out the top eight. Chadron State is scheduled to host six of the top seven teams in the preseason poll at home this season.

New Mexico Highlands, Fort Lewis, the Eagles and Adams State rounded out the poll.

Scouting the Opponents
Wayne State
The Wildcats will be opening their 2026 season with their first matchup against Chadron State. Last season, WSC engineered the biggest turnaround in Division II when they finished 31-24 (14-13 NSIC), a 23-win improvement from the season prior. 

The Wildcats were picked seventh in the NSIC Preseason Poll. Two players were named as Conference "Players to Watch" – junior outfielder Emilee Martin, who batted .357 with six home runs and 32 RBI last season, and redshirt sophomore pitcher Kennadi Borngrebe, who pitched to a 13-10 record and 2.67 ERA while ranking fourth in the NSIC with 158 strikeouts.

Nebraska-Kearney
The Lopers of Nebraska-Kearney are coming off a 3-2 weekend in Southern California. UNK won its first three games – knocking off Jessup 3-0, Cal State Monterey Bay 7-4 and Concordia Irvine 7-3 before losing to Cal State San Bernardino and Dominican.  

They were picked to finish 11^th out of 13 in the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) after last season's roster went 23-27, including a 1-1 record against CSC. UNK returns two-time All-MIAA shortstop Mary Chvatal, who set the program career record for drawn walks last weekend. The Lopers also have three of their top four pitchers from last season returning to the team.

Coach's Corner
Skye Koehl (pronounced "kale") is in his first season in charge of the Chadron State program.

Koehl joins CSC after two seasons as the head coach at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado. Her teams placed second and third in NJCAA Region 9 during her two seasons in charge. 

As a player, Koehl won a junior college national championship with Temple College (Tex.) before transferring to Division I Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for her final three seasons.