Photo Courtesy NDSCS Softball
For the second time in three seasons the North Dakota State College of Science softball team is NJCAA DIII National Champions.
NDSCS rallied from Saturday’s 3-0 loss to defending champion Patrick & Henry to earn a rematch with the Patriots, topping them twice Sunday to capture the title.
Final scores in the championship series were 2-0 and 5-3.
SEMIFINAL VS. MONROE
Following Saturday’s setback to Patrick & Henry, the Wildcats rebounded early Sunday with a 7-1 win over sixth-seeded Monroe to climb back into contention.
Heeley Taylor worked around seven hits in a complete-game effort, striking out five to earn her 10th win of the season, lowering her earned run average to 1.93 in the process.
Jessi Matthews collected three hits, two of them for extra bases, and Emma Johnson homered. The Wildcats ran rampant on the bases with six steals.
The victory sent top-seeded NDSCS back to the championship round, needing back-to-back victories over third-seeded Patrick & Henry to hoist the hardware.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 1
Ella Stewart pitched a gem to open the title round. The freshman allowed three hits across seven innings while striking out 10 and issuing a single walk.
Stewart improved to 12-2 inside the circle and notched her 150th strikeout.
One swing of Emma Johnson’s bat proved to be the difference. The lefty crushed a two-run homer in the top of the first, driving in Kendyl Moss for the game’s only runs. The blast was Johnson’s ninth of the season and 24th in her Wildcat career.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 2
In the winner-take-all rubber match, NDSCS scored four runs in the fifth to erase a 3-0 deficit, and added another insurance run on a Moss single in the sixth.
The Wildcats relied on a bullpen game to stymie the Patriots.
Stewart and Johnson allowed three runs through four innings, before Grace Folkema returned to ice the game with three scoreless frames. Folkema wrapped up her sophomore season with a 17-5 record, 142 strikeouts and a 2.45 ERA.
Caitlyn Dannenfelzer, Rayelle Cooley, Ava Howard and Meredith Frey posted multi-hit efforts as the ‘Cats tallied 11 hits overall. Dannenfelzer delivered a home run and Frey caught the final out of the World Series in center field.
NDSCS capped off the 2025 season with a 54-14-1 record, No. 1 national ranking and the second NJCAA National Championship in school history. The Wildcats are riding consecutive 50-plus win seasons, finishing either first or second at the World Series in each of the past three years.
Patrick & Henry closed the season with a 37-20 record, a No. 2 national ranking and its second straight appearance in the title game.
NDSCS was 0-3 against Patrick & Henry during the season heading into Sunday’s championship series.
