FOREST CITY, Iowa — Dakota Wesleyan Softball traveled to Iowa to face the Waldorf Warriors in a GPAC doubleheader series.
Alison Ernsberger got the start in the circle during the first game. She set a new career-high in single-game strikeouts, totalling 14 through a complete-game shutout, giving up zero earned runs and just four hits throughout the contest. Her 121 pitches were enough to keep the Warriors out of the entirety of the contest, and with an efficient offensive effort, the Tigers were able to control all seven frames in game one. It would take the offense a few innings to get started, though, but once the scoring drought ended in the top of the fourth thanks to a grounder from Elle Feser that would get Dusti Draper home, it was all Tigers the rest of the way. Jaycee Tebay would join in during the top of the fourth, getting Macy Moore home on an RBI-single, and struck again in the top of the sixth with a bases-loaded walk to give DWU a 3-0 advantage. The lead would be extended to 4-0 following a sacrifice fly from Jordyn Blogg, and Feser would round out the scoring effort with RBIs two and three on the day, getting Moore across home plate for the third time in the game alongside Deanna Davidson. The dominant performance on both ends of play saw the Tigers claim a 6-0 win in the first contest.
The second contest featured two pitchers for the Tigers, with Mandalyn Nachtigall grabbing her 11th win of the season, matching Ernsberger's new total, while tallying four strikeouts, while Keirstyn Krcil posted two of her own in 2.2 innings of relief. The game saw both teams ramp up offensive production, with Draper recording an RBI-double, getting home on a passed ball, and Ashlen Johnson recording an RBI-single as the Tigers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Waldorf was able to get on the board in the bottom of the second with two runs of their own, but the fourth home run of the season for Avery Perkins put the Tigers back out by multiple runs before Elise Nopola reached home plate, moving the score to 5-2. The Warriors once again countered with an RBI single, but Perkins hit her second homer of the game (and fifth of the season) to drive in two more runs in the top of the fifth. Waldorf added runs four and five to their side of the scoreboard, but the sixth and seventh innings would be all Tigers, as Draper added to her RBI total while Kassidy Lopez and Alessandra Ciurca got involved with a series of RBIs. Waldorf added one more to the board in the bottom of the seventh, but DWU's six runs scored in the final two frames secured the win, 13-7. DWU's current 10-game win streak sits one shy of the 11-game win streak program record from the 2016 season as the Tigers move to 28-11 on the season and still sit atop the conference at 11-1 in GPAC play.
DWU Softball will be back in action in Crete, Nebraska against the Doane Tigers on Saturday, April 11th, starting at 2:00 PM. See the full 2026 schedule here.