- Bears win five consecutive elimination games to reach championship game
- The five wins included a no-hitter by sophomore Kierra Jungers and a key 3-run home run from sophomore Morgan Neuroth
- DMACC closes the season with a school record 60 wins
Fifth-seeded Pearl River Community College (PRCC) rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to hand the DMACC softball team a 2-1 loss in the championship game of the 2026 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Softball World Series May 25 at Boiling Springs, S.C.
DMACC owned the first five and a two-thirds innings of the game, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the first inning and keeping the Wildcats off the scoreboard behind a no-hitter from DMACC sophomore Kierra Jungers of Fonda.
Jungers walked the third batter she faced in the first inning, then retired 15 batters in a row before Kai Goodman garnered PRCC's first hit with a double. Addy Grace Alexander reached on a base on balls and Natalee Eaves followed with a triple down the right field line, scoring Goodman and Alexander. Wildcats' pitcher Ana-Grace Garcia retired all three DMACC batters she faced in the top of the seventh to give PRCC the win.
Sophomore Bri Tigges of Urbandale scored DMACC's run in the first. She singled with one out, took second on a walk to sophomore Macee Reiling of Dallas Center and scored on a two-out single by sophomore Mo Purdy of Des Moines.
"This was one incredible year," said DMACC softball coach Bob Ligouri, who led the Bears to a school-record 60 wins. "To watch this team grow and mature and build their confidence and come together was an incredible thing."
DMACC, the tournament's No. 5 seed, reached the championship game after winning five consecutive elimination games, including three over an eight-hour period on May 24.
The Bears opened tournament play with a 6-0 win over Pima Community College (PCC) on May 20. They dropped an 8-3 decision to top-seeded Kirkwood Community College (KCC) on May 21, but kept their tournament hopes alive with a 10-1 win over Louisburg College in an elimination game, also on May 21.
DMACC topped State College of Florida (SCF) in another elimination game on May 22, setting up a second matchup against KCC, also on May 22. That game and the remainder of the schedule on May 22 and May 23 were wiped out because of the rain, forcing the tournament to be moved from Tyger River Park in Spartanburg, S.C., to Gardner-Webb University (GWU) in Boiling Springs, S.C.
DMACC and KCC finally played on May 24 and the Bears came away with a 3-0 win behind Jungers no-hitter and a three-run home run from sophomore Morgan Neuroth of LeGrand. The Bears followed that win with a 5-0 victory over sixth-seeded Jones College, also on May 24 and then defeated second-seeded Murray State College (MSC) on the 24th, 4-3 , to advance to the championship game.
"What they did on (May 24) is probably not going to be matched by very many people," Ligouri said. "The people at the World Series said they had never seen a team in one tournament beat the No. 1 team, the No. 6 team and the No. 2 team all in the span of eight hours."
Ligouri said he had nothing but compliments for the performance of his team.
"It's every coach's dream to have their team play their best at the most crucial time of the season and this team peaked at the right time," he said. "They were playing their best and that's a credit to the players and the coaching staff."
Tigges and freshman Dana Blake of Indianola drove in two runs apiece and Jungers pitched a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts and DMACC's win over SCF.
Sophomore Erin Ades of Boone started DMACC's three-run rally in the win over KCC with a leadoff single in the second inning. She moved to second on a single by freshman Cali Richards of Des Moines but was forced at third on an infield grounder by sophomore Baylor Gregory of Papillion, Neb. Blake then forced Richards at third on an infield grounder before Neuroth belted a home run over the fence in center field, scoring Blake and Gregory.
Jungers kept the Eagles off the scoreboard by retiring the first 15 batters she faced. Her only troubling inning was the sixth when she sandwiched walks around a pair of strikeouts, giving KCC runners and first and second with two outs. The threat ended when Mischa Reiners flew out to end the inning.
Prior to the loss, KCC had defeated the Bears in four of five matchups this season, going 3-1 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) and winning the quarterfinal game in this tournament.
Neuroth, Purdy and freshman Mackenzie Mohler of West Des Moines hit home runs in the Bears' 5-0 win over JC, a perennial power in NJCAA Division II with one national championship and five second-place finishes since 2014. Jungers scattered five hits, struck out three and walked one in getting the win.
Purdy hit a grand-slam home run in the bottom of the third to lead the Bears past MSC in their final game on May 24. MSC led 3-0 before Blake started the winning rally with a base on balls. Neuroth followed with a single and Tigges walked to load the bases. Reiling was retired on a line drive to second and Mohler struck out before Purdy found a 3-2 pitch to her liking and hit it over the fence in left field.
Tigges, the Bears' right fielder, preserved the win with a key catch in the fifth inning. With one gone, Lilly Wyche sent a fly ball to right field that Tigges snagged as the ball cleared the fence in what would have been a game-tying home run.
Sophomore Jacki Baas of Bondurant got the win. She went three innings, allowing three runs on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Sophomore Brooklyn Baumgardner of Slater threw two innings, getting two strikeouts and walking two batters and Jungers picked up the save behind two innings in the circle. She allowed one hit and struck out five batters.
The DMACC softball team closed out the season at 60-12, setting a new school record for wins in a season. The Bears' second-place finish is their highest in the tournament in 12 consecutive appearances and 13 appearances in the last 14 seasons. They were third in 2023, 2019, 2018 and 2014 and fourth in 2025.
Gregory, Reiling, Baumgardner, Ades, Tigges, Purdy, Neuroth, Baas and Jasey Anderson of Estherville, the nine sophomores on the team, compiled a 116-18 record during their two seasons at DMACC. The Bears were ranked in the top ten of the NJCAA Division II poll every week during those two seasons.
In addition to a record-setting seasons, the DMACC softball team performed in the classroom as well.
"This team did not sacrifice academics for winning games," Ligouri said. "Our team grade point average (GPS) was over 3.70."