The home for scores, live stats, video streams and game recaps from the NAIA Softball National Championship Sioux City Bracket.

NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round
Sioux City Bracket
May 15-17
Elizabeth & Irving F. Jensen Softball Complex, Sioux City, IA

Monday, May 15
Game 1- #2 Reinhardt 2, #3 Jamestown 1 (8)

Game 2- #4 Ottawa 1, #1 Morningside 0
 

Tuesday, May 16
Game 3- Ottawa 8, Reinhardt 2

Game 4- Morningside 9, Jamestown 1

Game 5- Reinhardt 4, Morningside 2
 

Wednesday, May 17   (Game 6 is rained out – Ottawa advances as Sioux City Bracket champion)
Game 6- Ottawa (39-17) vs. Reinhardt (43-15-1), Noon     Live Stats

Game 7- If necessary, 2:30 p.m.     Live Stats

 

Day 2 Recaps
Ottawa 8, Reinhardt 2

Unranked Ottawa upset a nationally ranked team for the second day in a row with an 8-2 victory against No. 13 Reinhardt in Tuesday’s winner’s bracket final of the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round Sioux City Bracket.

The Braves, who knocked off No. 10 Morningside in Monday’s first round action, will face Reinhardt again in Wednesday’s championship game slated for a noon start.

Ottawa, which entered the tourney with an all-time record of 0-7 in two previous appearances in the NAIA Softball National Championship, moved within one victory of a berth in the NAIA Softball World Series.

Ottawa had a pedestrian 17-15 record through its first 32 games of the season, but has gone 22-2 over its last 24 games and will take a 39-17 record into Wednesday’s title game against Reinhardt (43-15-1), which would have to defeat Ottawa in back-to-back games in order to advance.

Reinhardt outhit the Braves 12-8, but it was a game of missed opportunities for the Eagles, who left 13 runners on base.

Ottawa pitcher Molli Morgan weathered the 12-hit Reinhardt offensive attack and worked her way out of multiple jams en route to her 32nd victory of the season against 12 defeats.  Morgan, who walked three and struck out three, had her only easy inning in the seventh when she retired the Eagles in order. Reinhardt left at least two runners on base over each of the first six innings and left the bases loaded in the sixth.

The Braves took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Jenna Stigge led off the game with a single and scored when Ellena Cott-Laurie bounced into a fielder’s choice and Elisa Valenzuela walked and scored on a single by Aryn Smith.

The Eagles got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second when Haley Collins singled and came home on a double by Maddie Evans.

Ottawa broke the game open with a four-run third inning to go up 6-1. The Braves had three hits in the inning, including a leadoff triple by Kori Lacey and two-run doubles by Alexa Romero and Savannah Holland.

Cott-Laurie put an exclamation point on the Braves’ win when she blasted a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to cap the scoring.

Holland went two-for-three with two doubles and Lacey went two-for-three with a triple to pace an eight-hit Ottawa offensive attack.

Collins and Jessica Baker each went three-for-four to lead Reinhardt.

Morningside 9, Jamestown 1

Tenth-ranked Morningside avenged a 4-0 regular season setback against Jamestown with a 9-1 victory in Tuesday’s action in the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round Sioux City Bracket to eliminate the Jimmies from the double-elimination tournament.

Morningside improved its record to 40-11, while the Jimmies bowed out with a 41-21 mark.

Jamestown ace Hanna Dunnigan pitched a three-hit shutout against Morningside when the teams met during the regular season in a March 19 contest in Leavenworth, Kan. Dunnigan was working on another shutout and took a 1-0 lead into the top of the fifth inning of Tuesday’s rematch before the Mustangs’ offense erupted with a seven-run inning.

Mara Amsberry worked Dunnigan for a leadoff walk to open the inning and then went to second base on a wild pitch. The Jimmies went to Brittany Rheault in relief after Elin Landgren reached base on an error to put runners at the corners with no outs. Tracy Edwards greeted Rheault with a RBI single to tie the score at one. A walk to Abby Conner loaded the bases to set up a bases loaded RBI walk by Rachel Koch that put the Mustangs in front 2-1. Emilee Dorpinghaus was hit by a pitch to force in another run to make it 3-1 and prompt the Jimmies to return Dunnigan to the pitcher’s circle. The big blow of the inning came one out later when Allie Martinez rocketed a grand slam home run over the center field fence to put the Mustangs in front 7-1.

The Mustangs capped their scoring when Amsberry delivered a two-run single in the top of the seventh.

Jamestown scored its run in the bottom of the third inning when Kylie Macaig reached base on an error and came home on a sacrifice fly by Kelly Halverson.

Winning pitcher Rachel Henks allowed one unearned run on four hits to improve her record to 34-9 to break a Morningside record for wins in a season. Henks, who walked three and struck out seven, topped the previous Mustang standard of 33 wins in a season set by Whitney McElrath, who went 33-12 in the 2006 campaign.

Martinez swung the big bat in the Mustangs’ lineup with a home run, double and four RBIs. The Mustangs also had two-hit performances from Edwards, Koch and Amsberry.

Reinhardt 4, Morningside 2

Thirteenth ranked Reinhardt defeated No. 10 Morningside 4-2 in a matchup of nationally ranked teams in the elimination bracket final of the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round Sioux City Bracket.

The loss ended the Mustangs’ season with a record of 40-12, while Reinhardt improved its ledger to 43-15-1 and advanced to Wednesday’s championship game against unranked Ottawa.

Reinhardt, this year’s Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) co-champion, outhit the Great Plains Athletic Conference champion Mustangs 9-8 and took the lead for good when it opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the second inning. Sarah Kate Jenkins led off the inning with a walk and eventually scored when the Eagles bunched three consecutive two-out singles by Cassidy Howren, Taylor Weeks and Maddie Evans.

The Eagles capitalized on some shaky bunt defense by Morningside when they stretched their lead to 3-0 with two more runs in the third inning. The Mustangs made three consecutive throwing errors on a bunt single by Taylor Braselton and sacrifice bunts by Jessica Baker and Jenkins. Hannah McKinley, who led off the inning with a double, scored after the Braselton bunt single and Mustang throwing error, while Braselton came home after the Mustangs’ third throwing error of the inning.

Reinhardt threatened to do even more damage with runners at the corners and no outs before Mustang pitcher Rachel Henks worked her way out of the jam with a groundout, strikeout and popout.

Morningside scored runs in the top of the fifth and sixth innings to close within 3-2. Mara Amsberry singled and scored on a single by Rachel Koch in the fifth. The Mustangs scored in the sixth when Moriah Bohlmann singled and came home on a groundout by Elin Landgren.

The Eagles plated an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when All-American Taylor Weeks led off with a double and scored on a two-out single by Braselton, the AAC Player of the Year.

Weeks went three-for-three with a double, while McKinley had two doubles and Braselton a pair of singles.

Tracey Edwards and Abby Conner each had two hits for Morningside.

Madison Luck allowed two runs and scattered eight hits over the first five innings to notch her 20th win of the season. Luck (20-8) walked one and struck out one. Maci Mills walked one and fanned one over a pair of hitless innings for her first save of the season.

Henks (34-10) allowed nine hits in defeat. She walked two and struck out five.

Day 1 Recaps
Reinhardt 2, Jamestown 1 (8)

Angela Roberts walked with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning to force home Hannah McKinley with the winning run and lift No. 13 Reinhardt to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory on Monday in the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round Sioux City Bracket.

McKinley started the Eagles’ eighth inning rally when she worked Jimmie pitcher Brittany Rheault for a one-out walk. A walk to Taylor Braselton put runners at first and second and Reinhardt loaded the bases with two outs when Sarah Kate Jenkins was hit by a pitch. Hanna Dunnigan, the Jimmies’ original starter, returned to the pitching circle in relief of Rheault and battled Roberts to a full count before the walk-off walk.

The Eagles will take a 42-14-1 record into Tuesday’s 11 a.m. winner’s bracket final against unranked Ottawa.

Jamestown, 41-20, will try to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament against No. 10 Morningside in Tuesday’s 1:30 p.m. elimination game.

The Jimmies took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning before the Eagles staged their comeback.

Jamestown gained its advantage in the fourth inning when Kelly Halverson led off with a single, went to second on a single by Tifani Schorzman, was sacrificed to third by Rheault and came home on a single by Linda Ontiveros.

Dunnigan took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Taylor Weeks, a 2016 second-team NAIA All-American, led off the inning with a single. The Eagles loaded the bases one out later after a bunt single by McKinley and a single by Appalachian Athletic Conference Player of the Year Taylor Braselton. Dunnigan almost worked her way out of the jam when she struck out Jessica Baker, one of the top run producers in the nation with 67 RBIs, before Jenkins beat out an infield single to drive in Weeks with the tying run.

Maci Mills, who took over for Reinhardt starter Madison Luck to start the fifth inning, twirled four innings of no-hit relief to get the win and improve her record to 19-3. Mills had two walks and no strikeouts. Luck allowed one run on five hits with two walks and one strikeout in her four-inning stint.

Dunnigan allowed one run on four-hits with four walks and 10 strikeouts over 5.2 innings in a non-decision. Rheault (14-5) allowed one run on one hit with two walks and three strikeouts to take the loss.

Ottawa 1, Morningside 0

A six-hit shutout by ace pitcher Molli Morgan and one swing of the bat by Elisa Valenzuela lifted unranked Ottawa to a 1-0 upset victory against No. 10 Morningside in Monday’s first day play in the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round Sioux City Bracket.

Ottawa, which was swept 5-1 and 5-0 by the Mustangs in a March 18 regular season doubleheader in Ottawa, Kan., won for the 21st time in its last 23 games and will take a 38-17 record into Tuesday’s 11 a.m. winner’s bracket final against No. 13 Reinhardt, which scored a come-from-behind 2-1 victory in eight innings against unranked Jamestown in Monday’s other first round contest.

Morningside (39-11) will try to stay alive in the double elimination tourney in a 1:30 p.m. game against Jamestown, which defeated the Mustangs 4-0 in a March 19 regular season game in Leavenworth, Kan.

Morgan, who absorbed the loss in both of the Braves’ regular season defeats against Morningside, pitched to contact against the Mustangs, finishing the contest with no walks and no strikeouts while improving her record to 31-12.

Ottawa, which entered the game with an all-time record of 0-7 in two prior NAIA National Championship appearances, received all the offense it needed when Valenzuela slugged a solo home run with two outs in the top of the first inning.

The solo home run was the only scoring the Braves could muster against Morningside ace Rachel Henks, who saw her record drop to 33-9 with the hard luck defeat. Henks allowed only one more hit after Valenzuela’s home run, which came when Aryn Smith doubled with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to end a streak where she had retired 11 consecutive hitters.

Henks finished with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Morningside had base runners in all but one inning, but had more than one hit in an inning only once. That came in the third inning when a strong throw by Ottawa leftfielder Kori Lacey snuffed out the Mustangs’ only significant scoring threat. Tracey Edwards, who had led off the inning with a single, was thrown out at the plate by Lacey when she attempted to score from second base on a two-out single by Emilee Dorpinghaus.

Aside from the two third inning hits, the Mustangs’ other hits were a pair of singles by Moriah Bohlmann and singles by Abby Conner and Rachel Koch.