2026 Schedule
2026 Roster
2025 Statistics
 
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A new era for Alverno softball begins on March 14, 2026, as the Inferno open their spring campaign against Nazareth College at 10 a.m. in THE Spring Games. Led by first-year head coach Shawn Grimm, the team will rely on a strong returning cast highlighted by senior infielder Giselle Moreno (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech), a two-time Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) All-Conference selection.

"Our goal for this season is to compete as a team," Grimm said, "As a team, we are also focused on believing in our process for success. We have a team that has a strong desire to be successful, and with plenty of talent and new faces, we believe that can be achieved."

Moreno will serve as a team captain this season, as well as juniors Alyssa Hubli (Kenosha, Wis./St. Joseph Catholic Academy) and Jaycee Reyes (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge), each coming off stellar sophomore campaigns

Infield:
The Inferno's strength undoubtedly lies within their offense heading into 2026, where they have several bats returning after strong 2025 seasons.
Moreno headlines the group, as she was a NACC All-Conference First Team selection last year, becoming the first Alverno softball First Team honoree since Emily Ortner in 2014. The senior infielder hit .429 in 2025, posting a 1.212 OPS, accumulating 42 hits, 11 doubles, 27 RBI, and five home runs in just 98 at-bats.

Sophomore Gianna Medrano (Tucson, Ariz/Ironwood Ridge) is the lone newcomer to the infield group, where she will look to make an impact in her first season with the Inferno.

Alyssa Hubli, as well as sophomores Bailey Gardner (Eagle Lake First Nation, Ontario/University of Winnipeg Collegiate) and Cece Ehni (Snohomish, Wash./Monroe), should also see time in the infield this season for Alverno.

Outfield:
Seniors Hailie Eschbach (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) and Kate Peabody (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) return in 2026 to lead the outfield group with plenty of experience. Eschbach started in 36 games last year, hitting .284, while Peabody appeared in 24 games for the Inferno.

Sophomore Nadya Hudson (Milwaukee, Wis./Wauwatosa East) is the lone newcomer to the outfield group but has experience at the Division III level after playing for Mitchell College last season. In 26 games of action for the Mariners, she totaled 14 hits and had four doubles, while also walking 11 times for a .418 on-base percentage.

Utility:
Alverno boasts a versatile squad, evidenced by the number of players who will see time all over the diamond in 2026.

Returning to fill these roles in 2026 will be senior Emily Anguiano (South El Monte, Calif./San Gabriel Mission) and Reyes, who each were reliable bats and gloves throughout the previous year. Anguiano hit .293 last year, also driving in 15 runs and recording 24 hits, while finishing third on the team with a .951 fielding percentage. Reyes finished second on the team with a .344 batting average, recording 21 hits over 61 at-bats.

Newcomers to the group include freshman Mac Gardner (Eagle Lake First Nation, Ontario/College Churchill), as well as sophomore Riley Krider (Cromwell, Ind./West Noble) and freshman Ady Sollenberger (Washington, Ill./Washington Community).

Catchers:
Hubli is the lone returning catcher for the Inferno and will be a welcome return to the lineup after a breakout 2025 campaign. In her sophomore season, Hubli hit .320 and slugged at a .619 clip, tying for the team lead with five home runs and leading the team with 12 doubles. Her 22 runs scored also tied for the team lead.

Ady Sollenberger will also play a part in catching for the Inferno in 2026 in her first collegiate season.

Pitchers:
Bailey Gardner returns for Alverno after throwing all but 59.1 innings for them last year. The sophomore logged 134.1 innings as a freshman and will be counted on this year to be a reliable arm once again.

Newcomers to the pitching group this year include both Riley Krider and Cece Ehni, each of whom has collegiate experience. Krider spent last season with Manchester University, while Ehni played for Shoreline Community College and compiled 29.1 innings of work.
 
All three will be options at the plate this year, too, and at other positions, as they all add strong versatility to the Inferno.
  (From the office of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference)

In the conference's preseason poll, Concordia University Wisconsin has been named the favorite to capture the 2026 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) softball title, according to the annual preseason poll announced Wednesday, February 18.

The Falcons secured the top spot with 321 points and 14 first-place votes, just ahead of second-place Benedictine University and third-place Dominican University. The Eagles finished with 306 points and eight first-place votes, while the Stars totaled 298 points and the last four first-place votes from the voting panel that consisted of the league's head coaches and one member from each institution's athletics communications staff.

Aurora University slotted into fourth place with 224 points, just one marker clear of Milwaukee School of Engineering (223) in fifth and five clear of Concordia University Chicago (219) in sixth. Marian University (199) and Lakeland University (177) have been given the final two presumptive NACC Tournament slots, while Edgewood University (116), St. Norbert College (109), Rockford University (78), Wisconsin Lutheran College (70), and Alverno College (26) round out the poll.

2025 Recap
Concordia Wisconsin and Dominican tied for the regular-season crown with matching 19-5 records, finishing a full three games clear of the rest of the field. It was the second straight title for the Stars and the fifth NACC crown since 2019 for the Falcons.

In the NACC Tournament, top-seeded CUW opened with a 7-0 win over fifth-seeded MSOE, then took two of three games from third-seeded Benedictine over the course of two days to win the program's fourth NACC Tournament title. Benedictine sidelined No. 7-seed Lakeland and No. 2-seed Dominican to advance to the tournament final.

A total of nine student-athletes representing three institutions were named all-region by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Concordia Wisconsin catcher Megan Bloyer and Dominican pitcher Emma Woodhouse were named to the first team, while CUW shortstop Jess Pozezinski was a second-team pick. Benedictine's Mckenzie Johnson (P), Morgan Bruno (C), and Haley Barnes (3B), Concordia Wisconsin's Emma Shellstrom (P) and Kaitlyn Way (DP/UT), and Dominican's Bella Olmos (2B) all landed on the third team.

Pozezinski was selected by the coaches at the NACC Player of the Year, while Woodhouse and Olmos were named Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively. Concordia Chicago, led by head coach Sarah O'Malley-Fisher, was recognized its peers as the NACC Coaching Staff of the Year.

New Coaches
There will be three new head coaches in the NACC softball dugouts this season. At St. Norbert, Maddie Fink takes over at St. Norbert for JoAnn Krueger, who retired last spring after 27 seasons and 446 victories. Fink, who served as an assistant last season, is just three seasons removed from a stellar pitching career at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where she compiled a 53-14 record with 342 strikeouts and a 1.73 earned run average. She was a two-time all-region honoree and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Pitcher of the Year in 2021 when she led the Titans to an appearance in the finals of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

Erin Skinner has been named the head coach at Edgewood. Skinner moves from one Madison (South Dakota) to another (Wisconsin) after spending the past two seasons at Dakota State University, where she coached two North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) Gold Glove Outfielder selections, three NSAA First Team selections, and one NSAA Second Team selection. She was also the head coach at Presentation (S.D.) College in 2023 and spent time as a graduate assistant at Doane (Neb.) University before moving to Lyon (Ark.) College as an assistant. As a player, Skinner was a four-year letterwinner at Lindenwood University-Belleville.

The final new head coach is at Alverno, where Shawn Grimm assumes head coaching duties after working last season as the hitting coach at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Prior to Minnesota-Morris, Grimm coached for well over a decade in the state of Wisconsin, spending time at Waukesha North (2011-2021) and Wauwatosa East (2022-2024) high schools. At Tosa East, he helped the team to their most successful season in four years, while compiling a 135-66 record in his time at Waukesha North.

2026 Schedule
Concordia Wisconsin and Dominican opened their seasons on Saturday, Feb. 21, with two games each at the Kwik Trip Invitational in Mankato, Minnesota. Season openers shifted to the Hodag Dome in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, the following week as Edgewood and Lakeland both faced Lawrence and Ripon on Wednesday, Feb. 25, while MSOE faced Carroll (Wis.) in a doubleheader on Thursday, Feb. 26.

The remainder of the league opens play over the first half of March. Marian faced Lebanon Valley and Illinois College at Clermont, Florida, on March 1, while Wisconsin Lutheran played Beloit and UW-Oshkosh at the UWO Rec-Plex. Concordia Chicago followed on March 2 with games against Baruch (N.Y.) and Concordia-Moorhead in Vieira Beach, Florida.

Aurora, Benedictine, Rockford, and St. Norbert all got underway this past weekend of March 7-8. Benedictine played Montclair State and Anderson (Ind.) on March 7 in Kissimmee, Florida, while Aurora faced North Park and Montclair State the following day. St. Norbert opened with a doubleheader at UW-Oshkosh on March 7, and Rockford played SUNY Cobleskill and Drew (N.J.) in Naples, Florida, on March 8.

Alverno is the final NACC school to open its season, playing Nazareth and Worcester Polytechnic Institute on March 14 in Kissimmee, Florida.

The NACC slate opens Saturday, March 21, with five doubleheaders - Marian at Alverno, MSOE at Rockford, Lakeland at Concordia Chicago, Concordia Wisconsin at Dominican, and Wisconsin Lutheran at Benedictine. Aurora (at Concordia Wisconsin) and Edgewood (at Marian) open conference play the following day, while St. Norbert joins the fray the following weekend with a trip to Wisconsin Lutheran on Saturday, March 27.

2026 Tournament
The top eight teams in the final regular season standings will qualify for the 2026 NACC Softball Tournament at Aurora University's Bedrosian Stadium at Spartan Athletic Park in Montgomery, Illinois. Play begins with four single-elimination games on Thursday, May 7. The remainder of the tournament will be a double-elimination four-team affair running Friday-Sunday, May 8-10. The tournament champion will receive the NACC's automatic berth in the 2026 NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

2026 NACC Softball Tournament
Thursday-Sunday, May 7-10
at Bedrosian Stadium at Spartan Athletic Park, Montgomery, Ill.
Hosted by Aurora University
 

Softball	Points
Concordia University Wisconsin (14)	321
Benedictine University (8)	306
Dominican University (4)	298
Aurora University	224
Milwaukee School of Engineering	223
Concordia University Chicago	219
Marian University	199
Lakeland University	177
Edgewood University	116
St. Norbert College	109
Rockford University	78
Wisconsin Lutheran College	70
Alverno College	26