ANGOLA, Ind. – The magical ride that was the 2026 Loras College softball season came to a historic end on Saturday. The Duhawks fell twice to the No. 4-ranked Trine University Thunder in the NCAA Regional Final.
Game One: Loras 5, #4 Trine University 6
Loras wasted no time in their Regional Final debut, racing out to a 5-0 lead after the first two innings.
Back-to-back doubles from
Ava Franklin and
Kaili Henning put Loras up 1-0 in the first. In the second, Franklin delivered a two RBI base hit that scored
Ellie Baker, who walked, and
Gillian Jones, who led the inning off with a single. After a flyout,
Kiya Steger, like she has so many times this season, came through with a two RBI triple that plated
Katherine Svigelj, who singled, and Franklin.
Trine, however, would not go away easy, and responded with a three-run top of the third.
Karley Trine's RBI double gave the Thunder their first run, then four batters later, Emma Lee's RBI double cut the Duhawk lead to just two.
After a couple scoreless innings, Trine added one more run to their total in the top of the sixth, a RBI double off the bat of Tyra Marcum.
In the top of the seventh, Trine took the lead with a two-run home run from senior Emma Lee that hit off the left field foul pole.
The Duhawks tried to rally, but went down in order, forcing a second game.
Game Two: Loras 0, #4 Trine University 9 F/5
The final game of the Regional Final was all Trine. The Thunder scored in every inning on their way to a 9-0 win, and a spot into the Super Sectionals.
The Thunder got two home runs from Marcum, RBI base hits from Abbie Geib and Emma Lee, and another home run off the bat of Debbie Hill.
The Purple and Gold finished this year with 31 wins, the most in program history, made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, and reached the American Rivers Conference championship game for the first time in program history.
Steger set a new single season home run record with 10, and RBI record with 53 and
Dana Skorich set a new single season hits record with 61 base knocks.
