CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State softball has a prime opportunity to climb in the standings when they travel to face the Fort Lewis Skyhawks this weekend with four games across Saturday and Sunday in Durango.
The Eagles (4-37, 4-28 RMAC) will face the Skyhawks (8-34, 7-25 RMAC) at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday before play concludes at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
CSC and Fort Lewis will enter the weekend holding the bottom two places in the RMAC standings and will have aspirations of finishing ahead of each other and 8-24 Adams State with a good weekend result.
A livestream of each game will be available on the RMAC Network with live stats available at chadroneagles.com. Any potential schedule changes will be communicated online and on social media (@ChadronState_SB on X/Twitter, @chadronstatesoftball on Instagram).
Looking Back
Chadron State dropped four more contests last weekend while hosting Colorado School of Mines. The Eagles lost 3-2 and 4-2 on Saturday, lengthening what was a six-game streak of losses by two runs or fewer, before the Orediggers won by more decisive margins of 10-0 and 8-1 on Friday.
RECAPS: Saturday | Sunday
Brogan Allen, Tiffani Mein, Sydney Lowery and Elizabeth Thorngren all recorded three hits apiece over the four-game series. Chadron State scored five of its seven runs in the series in the fifth-inning or later.
Stacking Zeroes
Chadron State has placed a lot of faith in youth for its pitching staff this season. True freshmen have combined to pitch 153.0 of CSC's total 256.2 innings pitched.
A sophomore, Belle Akins, has emerged as the Eagles' ace. Akins has a team-low 5.33 ERA, ranks sixth in the RMAC with 103.2 innings pitched and ranks third in the league with 75 strikeouts while ranking second with 23 strikeouts looking. Akins has only allowed one triple in her 100+ innings pitched.
Akins has allowed exactly three earned runs in each of her last three starts while throwing 6.1, 7.0 and 7.0 innings. She put together a 3.00 ERA over two starts last weekend against On April 3 against Regis, Akins set a new career high with nine strikeouts.
Right-hander and true freshman McKenna Sides has emerged as a secondary option in recent weeks. The Seward, Nebraska native pitched to a 2.74 ERA across 7.2 innings (two outings) against the Orediggers, including a career-high seven innings tossed on April 11.
Sides has allowed three earned runs or less in 11 consecutive appearances, a streak that includes four scoreless outings. Sides's ERA now sits at 7.65 for the season.
As a team, Chadron State's ERA has dropped to 6.27, which now ranks eighth in the 12-team RMAC.
Heating Up
Sydney Lowery has six career collegiate hits. Three of them came last weekend and four have come in CSC's last five games.
The true freshman from Highlands Ranch, Colorado had played a part-time role throughout the season but emerged to take 10 at-bats across three games last weekend against Mines. Primarily playing in right field, she also played errorless defense and threw out a runner at second base from the outfield.
Lowery collected the first multi-hit game of her career with singles in the first and third innings, driving home CSC's only run of the ballgame with her opposite-field base hit in the first, which was Lowery's third career RBI.
New Position
Yet another CSC freshman, Colorado Springs native Amber Boland, had been an occasional catcher this season for the Eagles, batting late in games or spelling Tiffani Mein when she needed a rest. Last weekend, Boland came on defensively at third base in game three of the series against the Orediggers and impressed enough to earn the start there in game four.
Despite entering in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement, Boland made two putouts in just one defensive inning of work and converted all four defensive chances at third during the series. Boland went 1-for-6 at the plate last weekend and is batting .136 this season.
Quick Hits
- Chadron State softball has 14 RMAC losses by two runs or fewer in 2026 (eight one-run losses, six two-run losses).
- Overall, Eagle pitching has done a good job with their control. Chadron State pitching has the third-fewest wild pitches in the RMAC (15) and the fourth-fewest hit batters (14).
- The Eagles have shown a tendency to move runners over. They rank third in the RMAC in total sacrifice bunts (30). Elizabeth Thorngren leads the team individually with seven while Tiffani Mein and Macie Selfors have five.
- Primary leadoff hitter Charley Pitrat ranks tied for third in the RMAC in walks drawn with 26.
- Tiffani Mein, CSC's primary catcher, ranks tied for fourth in the RMAC with seven baserunners caught stealing.
- CSC is 12th in the RMAC in team batting average (.214), on-base percentage (.300) and slugging percentage (.291).
- The Eagles are 10th in home runs (11) but rank 12th in singles, doubles and triples.
- The Eagles' team ERA of 6.27 ranks eighth in the RMAC. CSC's 146 strikeouts of opposing hitters ranks seventh in the league while the Eagles have 40 strikeouts looking, the fourth-most in the conference.
- Brogan Allen leads the team in batting average (.3009), on-base percentage (.381) and slugging percentage (.511), as well as home runs (four) and RBI (19).
In the Polls
The Eagles were picked 11th 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.
In the national polls, the RMAC has one nationally-ranked program – Colorado Christian at No. 7.
The Eagles are 0-6 against nationally ranked teams, losing four to No. 9-ranked CCU, one to No. 13Angelo State and one to No. 22 UT Tyler, who were No. 1 in the country at the time of the game against CSC.
Scouting the Skyhawks
At 8-34 overall and 7-25 in RMAC play, Fort Lewis opened the season losing its first 12 RMAC games but has improved since. The Skyhawks had taken three of four from Adams State, split with UCCS and won once against New Mexico Highlands on the season.
Last weekend, Fort Lewis shocked Colorado Mesa 4-2 in the series opener with a Cali Niccum grand slam that snapped a 37-game FLC losing streak against the Mavericks, who recovered to beat the Skyhawks 10-7, 16-1 and 16-8 in the final three games.
The win had to be even sweeter for Skyhawks coach Paige Rhodes (formerly Adair), a Colorado Mesa alum who was a former RMAC and South Central Region Pitcher of the Year for the Mavericks. Rhodes is in her third season at the helm of Fort Lewis and compiled a 27-68 record across her first two seasons.
Offensively, the Skyhawks are led by Carmen Alexander (.282 AVG, .889 OPS, 6 2B, 7 HR, 31 RBI) on the power side and Izzy Cueva (.311 AVG, .722 OPS, 23 1B, 15 RBI) on the contact/OBP side. Both Alexander and Cueva are freshmen.
In the circle, redshirt senior Hailie Mann and sophomore Chloe Padilla each have over 100 innings pitched and 11 complete games apiece while no other hurler has more than 32 innings. Mann is 5-10 with a 4.92 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 111 innings while Padilla is 1-15 with a 6.72 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 101 innings pitched.
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.
