NCAA Division II bragging rights in softball will be decided this weekend in the Wildcat Dome at Wayne State College as Wayne State hosts Chadron State and Nebraska-Kearney in a triangular with three games played Saturday and another three games Sunday to open the 2026 softball season.
            Saturday's schedule finds Wayne State hosting Chadron State at 12 p.m. followed by WSC and Nebraska-Kearney at 2:30 p.m. with Chadron State and Nebraska-Kearney facing off at 5 p.m.  Sunday action begins at 10 a.m. with UNK battling Chadron State followed by Chadron State and Wayne State at 12:30 p.m. and the final game featuring WSC and UNK at 3 p.m.
            Wayne State was picked to finish seventh in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll this year after going 31-24 last season (14-13 NSIC), a 23-game improvement from the year earlier which was the best turnaround by an Division II team last season.  
            Chadron State already played five games last weekend at the Division II First Pitch Invitational in Texas and went 0-5 with two losses coming to #1 Texas Tyler and #13 Angelo State.  Last season, the Eagles were 22-28 and 18-26 in the RMAC.
            Nebrsaka-Kearney also got a jump on the 2026 season last weekend going 3-2 at the Concordia Kickoff Classic in Irvine, California.  Last season the Lopers were 23-27 and 9-15 in the MIAA.
            WSC and Chadron State have faced each other just one time in softball - 2009 at a tournament in Colorado Springs, Colorado - with WSC winning 16-2.
            UNK holds a 32-15 edge in the all-time series over WSC.  The last meeting came in 2022 at the Washburn Tournament in Topeka with UNK winning 4-3.  It's the first time since 2014 that WSC and UNK will meet in softball in Wayne.