North Central College Cardinals

Contact: Sam Fretto, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (May 8, 2026)- After an eight-run first inning by the North Central College softball team, the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament win-or-go-home game came down to the bat of Bailey Miller, who walked off the Millikin Big Blue with an RBI single to right field to advance the Cardinals to the semifinals in a 10-9 victory at Inspiration Field on Friday afternoon. Following the win to advance to the CCIW Tournament semifinal, the Cardinals fell to Augustana College, 4-3, ending their run.

North Central took a commanding 8-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning powered by the first five batters reaching base safely. Gwen Shouse singled on a tapper to the pitcher, Gracie Vlach reached via an error and Hailey Morsovillo loaded the bases with a single. Lauren Bowmar kept the line moving with an RBI base hit, putting the Cardinals ahead 1-0. Emma Herder plated two runs with a two-RBI two-bagger to right-center field. 

The Cardinals knocked Millikin's starting pitcher out of the game after just five batters and the new pitcher recorded two outs, but Sydney Nienhouse's groundout scored another run to make it a 4-0 North Central lead. Kayla Crabtree drew a walk and Miller emptied the bases with a triple to right field, extending the lead to 6-0. Turning the lineup card over and batting around, Shouse had her second at bat of the game and hit a two-run home run to right center field for an 8-0 lead. The Big Blue would subsequently pull its second pitcher and put in their final arm of the game and keep the game at 8-0. 

Trailing 8-0, Millikin fought back and put up a two-spot in the top of the second inning after loading the bases and getting a two-RBI base hit. Juliana Maude ended the inning with a lineout double play to shortstop. The Big Blue continued to fight back in the third inning, trailing 8-2. A two-out rally by Millikin put the game within reach at 8-5. Back-to-back doubles scored two Big Blue runs and an RBI single through the right of the infield cut the lead to just three. 

An important insurance run in the home half of the third gave North Central a 9-5 lead after Kayla Lindberg singled home Carley Creeth, who led off with a double that one-hopped the wall. Sam Schilf entered the ballgame for Maude and threw up scoreless frames in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. 

Down to its final three outs, Millikin continued to fight back and stormed back to tie the game 9-9 with a four-run top of the seventh. With bases loaded, an RBI single scored two runs, inching the Big Blue closer with a 9-7 deficit. With two outs in the inning, the Big Blue came all the way back and tied it with a double over the head of the outfield. 

Nienhouse got aboard with a base hit to center field and Lindberg moved her to scoring position with an infield single of her own. Swinging at the first pitch she saw, Miller went opposite field and scored Alyssa Barowski, who came in as a pinch runner from second base to walk it off for the Cardinals in the 10-9 victory. 

The Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI single to center field. Following the lone run, both sides exchanged scoreless frames as Maude found a groove, retiring 12 of the next 13 batters she faced. Down to their final six outs, the Cardinals got a rally going, loading the bases. Herder singled to right field and the Cardinals went station-to-station tying the game 1-1. North Central chased Augustana's starting pitcher out of the game and the pitching change proved to be enough, ending the Cardinals' rally. 

Maude threw up another zero on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth and gave the Cardinals a 1-1 ballgame going into the top of the seventh inning. Miller and Shouse singled to get the inning going and Vlach bunted them over to second and third base. Morsovillo came through with an RBI single up the middle to score Miller, giving North Central the 2-1 lead late. Herder gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead with an infield single, which saw her slide into first to beat out the throw. 

Augustana fought back in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with three batters. A single on the left side of the infield scored one runner and made it a 3-2 game. Schilf came in for Maude to try and get the final three outs with the game-tying run at third base. She induced a groundball to Shouse at shortstop, who fired home to cut down the lead runner for the first out of the inning. The game-tying run for Augustana was walked in and the game-winning run stood 60 feet away. Schilf delivered a huge strikeout to get the second out of the inning to try and force extras, but the Vikings found a vacant right side of the infield and pushed across the game-winning run for the 4-3 victory over North Central. 

North Central had individually impactful offensive output, as Herder had a combined four hits and four RBI across both games, while Shouse combined for four base hits, including her first career home run. Miller added three RBI in game one, with a two-RBI triple and the walkoff base hit.

North Central ended the season with a 22-18 overall record with an 8-8 CCIW record, which gave them the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Their 2026 season comes to an end in the semifinal of the CCIW Tournament, the program's furthest run since 2022.