The Dordt University softball team avoided elimination with a 7-5 win over the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) in game six of the NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round - Ashland Bracket played this afternoon at Laurel Park in Ashland, Ore.
The Defenders improve to 41-13 on the season, 2-1 in bracket play, and will play 19th-ranked Texas A&M-Texarkana on Wednesday at 1pm (CST) in another elimination game. Saint Francis is eliminated from the bracket and ends their record-breaking season with a 37-13 record.
Aubrey DeShaw and
Lauren Steenstra paced the Defenders 12-hit attack with three hits each.
Rylee Yager extended her hit streak to eight games, going 2-for4 with an RBI, and
Taylor Schneider hit a 2-run triple in the Defenders 3-run third inning.Â
Yager (20-9) earned her second win at the Ashland Bracket and held the potent Cougars line-up in check for most of the game. The freshman allowed just five hits, three runs and struck out seven to go with six walks. With the win, Yager set the program record for wins in a season, previously held by both Abby Kraemer (2023) and Dawn Van Kley (2001) with 19.
Chloe Kreuz recorded the final two outs and closed out the game.Â
Dordt did not trail against USF as they scored three runs in the top of the first inning off Cougars starter and ace Olivia Fuentes (15-4). Kreuz led off with a single, stole second and scored on a one-out double by Steenstra. Following a walk by
Ashtyn Grissom, DeShaw reached base on a throwing error by the USF shortstop that scored both Steenstra and
Annabelle Hensley to give Dordt a 3-0 lead.Â
The Defenders pushed the lead to 4-0 in the second when Price led off with a double and came around to score on a RBI single by Yager.Â
Dordt scored three more runs in the top of the third inning for a 7-0 lead. Steenstra led off with a single, went to second on a successful bunt from
Sumaya Edwards and scored after a DeShaw single. Schneider then followed with a 2-run triple to right centerfield, scoring both DeShaw and
Peyton Whipple.Â
The quiet USF offense came to life in its final at-bat as they scored five runs on four hits, two walks and a Defenders error. Yager retired the first batter in the bottom of the seventh but the next three Cougars reached base on a a single and a pair of walks. With the bases loaded, Head Coach
Jeff Zomer replaced Yager with Kreuz to face the NAIA leader in home runs, Cougars third baseman Abby Robakowski, who hit a bases clearing triple to make the score 7-3. Kreuz retired the next batter on a groundout that scored Robakowski but the next three USF batters reached base to make the score 7-5 and the winning run coming to the plate. Kreuz, however, struck out Lena Viggiano on three pitches to end the rally and secure the win.
Saint Francis totaled eight hits, led by the all-conference duo of Macie Dowd and Kortney Surber with two each. The Defenders held Robakowski, the Crossroads Player of the Year and 2025 NAIA All-American, to the one hit in the seventh.Â
Notes:Â
- this was game six of the five team, Ashland Bracket, and the third and final game on day two
- today's game was the first match-up ever played between Dordt and the University of Saint Francis (Ind.)
- this is the second appearance for the Defenders at the championship (2001)
- Yager has hit safely in all three games in the Ashland Bracket and has an 8-game hit streak
- Yager has multiple hits in two of the three games in Ashland
- Kreuz extended her hit streak to five games
- Price has hit safely in four consecutive games
- DeShaw matched her career-high with three hits (also vs Doane on March 28)
- this was Steenstra's seventh game this season with three hits
- Dordt is the only team from the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) left in the 2026 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round
- both Midland and Morningside were eliminated from their respective brackets today
- Texas A&M - Texarkana is 1-1 so far in the Ashland Bracket, earning a 5-4 win against Saint Francis and then losing to Southern Oregon 5-2
