EAST PEORIA, Ill. – Four programs were victorious in their first matchup of the 2026 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Softball Championship Tournament from the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois.
Day one saw three higher seeds secure wins, while No. 5 Rockhurst was the lone lower seed to win. No. 1 Indianapolis, No. 2 Missouri S&T, and No. 3 McKendree were able to capture victories and join the Hawks in moving on to the winners' bracket.
Six games will be played on Friday between two fields, starting with a pair of elimination games involving No. 4 Missouri St. Louis and No. 8 Drury at 10 a.m. CT on the first field and No. 6 Illinois Springfield and No. 7 Maryville at 11 a.m. on the second field. Two winners' bracket game will follow, as UIndy and Rockhurst face off at 1 p.m. (No. 1 field) and S&T and McKendree battle at 2 p.m. (No. 2 field). The day will conclude with two more elimination games between the winner of UIS/Maryville and loser of UIndy/Rockhurst at 4 p.m. on the first field and the winner of UMSL/Drury versus the loser of S&T/McKendree on the second field at 5 p.m.
No. 5 ROCKHURST 1, No. 4 MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS 0
BOX | RECAPS:
RU,
UMSL
- RU came out on the winning end of this pitchers' duel, with Kaylee Pugh scoring the lone run in the fifth inning on an UMSL throwing error.
- Avery Huffman was dominant in the circle for RU, tossing a complete-game shutout with eight strikeouts while allowing just four hits and three walks.
- UMSL's Kenzie Stoltz allowed the one unearned run, five hits, and five walks to go with five punchouts.
- RU's Eva Fulk was the only player in the game with multiple hits, notching two hits in four at-bats.
- Kaytie Kossina and Gracie Philpot of UMSL contributed the game's only extra-base hits with one double apiece.
No. 3 McKENDREE 11, No. 6 ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD 4
BOX | RECAPS: MCK,
UIS
- UIS opened the scoring with four runs in the third inning, spotlighted by a two-run double from Chloe Scroggins.
- MCK posted 11 unanswered runs after the Prairie Stars' outburst, putting up a six-run third inning and five-run sixth frame to put the game out of reach.
- Jasmine Myers provided the highlight of the game, smashing a grand slam over the left-field fence in the third stanza to give the Bearcats a 5-4 lead.
- MCK's Ellie Vetter was brilliant in relief, throwing four scoreless innings to earn the win.
- UIS's Rosie Bartletti went 3-for-4 with one stolen base to join Scroggins (2-for-4) in leading the offensive attack.
No. 1 INDIANAPOLIS 4, No. 8 DRURY 2
BOX | RECAPS:
UINDY,
DU
- DU came out of the gates hot with a lead-off homer from Emma Niemczyk and RBI double off the bat of Haley Bryant.
- UINDY responded in the middle innings, posting one run in the third, two in the fourth, and one in the fifth.
- After a rocky first inning, UINDY's Cheyenne Eads settled in and allowed just one hit over the next six frames while striking out nine batters in total.
- Josie Jager and Sydney Oliver each smacked a pair of hits for UINDY, while four different Greyhounds contributed an RBI.
No. 2 MISSOURI S&T 5, No. 7 MARYVILLE 4
BOX | RECAPS:
S&T,
MU
- After a first-inning RBI single from MU's Addison Koth, S&T capitalized on a pair of errors by plating five scores in the opening frame.
- Trista Grobe capped the scoring outburst with a three-run round tripper to center field.
- MU mounted a comeback that would fall just short, scoring one in the fourth inning and two in the seventh before leaving the game-tying run stranded at second.
- AJ Agers tossed a four-run complete game, punching out seven and allowing eight hits.
- Three different MU players – Mandi Lenon, Laila Ruiz, and Koth – tallied two hits.
For complete coverage and tournament details, visit the Championship homepage at the link above. All games will be streamed live behind a paywall on
GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as the GLVCSN OTT platforms on Roku TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV.