Softball Heads to Louisiana for NSU Tournament

Friday, February 27

Natchitoches, La.

11:00 a.m.

Missouri State University

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Softball Heads to Louisiana for NSU Tournament

February 26, 2026 | Softball

Game Notes (PDF)

Missouri State Bears (8-6) at City of Lights Classic
Dates	Friday-Saturday, February 27-28, 2026
Location & Site	Lady Demon Diamond \| Natchitoches, La.
Tournament Central	Tournament Central
Game 1	Friday, 11:00 a.m. vs. UAPB \| Live Stats
Game 2	Friday, 4:00 p.m. vs. Northwestern State \| Live Stats \| Watch (ESPN+)
Game 3	Saturday, 10:00 a.m. vs. UAPB \| Live Stats
Game 4	Saturday, 12:30 p.m. vs. Northwestern State \| Live Stats \| Watch (ESPN+)
Missouri State	Game Notes \| Softball Home Page
Opponents	Arkansas-Pine Bluff \| Northwestern State
Follow Us	Twitter \| Instagram \| Facebook \| #GoBears \| #Team58
Bears Mobile App	App Store (Apple Devices) \| Google Play Store (Android Devices)
Up Next	March 4 at Oklahoma State \| 6:00 p.m.

The Starting Lineup

Missouri State is coming off a 2-3 weekend at the Green and Gold Classic hosted by UAB. The Bears bookended the tournament with a win over SIU (5-4) and an upset over Ole Miss (3-2). The Bears are 8-6 overall on the year heading into the final weekend of tournament action.
Riley Baber (So, Overland Park, Kan.) is leading the way for Missouri State offensively this season with a .417 batting average, 11 RBI and 8 extra-base hits. In last week's tournament, Baber hit .500 (8-for-16) with four RBI and five extra-base hits. She drove in all three runs in the win over Ole Miss.
Emily Koranda (Fr., Marion, Iowa) is leading the way for Missouri State in the circle. The freshman owns a 1.20 ERA with a 4-2 record and two saves on the year. She has fanned 36 batters in 41.0 innings of work, and opposing batters are hitting just .212 against her. In CUSA, Koranda ranks 2nd in ERA, 3rd in saves and 5th in strikeouts.
Missouri State ranks leads CUSA and is 26th nationally with 7 double plays turned this season. Koranda ranks 19th in the country in complete games and 45th in ERA, and Baber ranks 41st in the country in doubles with six.
MoState returns two players that received all-conference recognition last season. Alexis Perales (Jr., Grapevine, Texas) was a second-team All-MVC selection at catcher, and Emily Gerardy (Jr., Omaha, Neb.) represented the Bears on the MVC All-Defensive team at second base. Perales was MoState's top hitter in MVC play last season with a .328 batting average and seven doubles, while Gerardy committed just two errors (.981 FLD%) against league competition in the second-most chances on the team.
Kasey Griffith is in her second season at the helm of the Bears after going 20-33 overall and 16-11 in the MVC in her debut season as a head coach. She is in her fourth overall season at MoState and took over as head coach on June 5, 2024, following the retirement of longtime head coach Holly Hesse.
Missouri State officially joined Conference USA on July 1, 2025 as a full-league member. The Bears are the 12th full-time member of the league and were joined by Delaware as the two newest members beginning with the 2025-26 year.
The Bears were picked to finish T-10th in the 2026 CUSA Softball Preseason Poll.
The 2026 MoState roster includes 15 returners, six newcomers (four freshmen and two transfers) and features 12 underclassmen.This year's squad contains just three seniors.