- Bears are ranked fifth in the NJCAA Division II Preseason Poll
- DMACC returns 10 sophomores, including four All-Americans
- Bears picked to finish second in the ICCAC
The DMACC softball team opens the 2026 season Feb. 13 in the FunCity Turf tournament at West Burlington. The Bears will face Highland (Kan.) Community College (HCC) in their season opener and will play Southeastern Community College (SECC) in their second game of the tournament.
Both opponents have already opened their seasons. HCC is 0-2 and SECC is 2-4.
"I think we have a chance to have a really, really good team," said DMACC softball coach Bob Ligouri. "You still have to play, but I think we'll be pretty good."
Ligouri led the Bears to a 56-7 record in 2025. They won the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference championship and qualified for their 12th consecutive appearance in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Softball World Series. DMACC finished fourth in the final Division II poll of the season.
The Bears begins the season ranked fifth in the NJCAA Division II Preseason Poll. Ironically, Kirkwood Community College (KCC) is projected to win the ICCAC regular season championship but is ranked 10th in the preseason poll and is 2-4 thus far in 2026.
Ligouri returns 10 sophomores from last season including a pair of All-American pitchers in sophomore Kierra Jungers of Fonda and sophomore Jacki Baas of Bondurant. Jungers was 25-2 with a 1.53 earned run average in 2025 and Baas was 20-2 with a 1.64 ERA.
DMACC also returns sophomore Brooklyn Baumgardner of Slater who was 4-2 with a 2.50 ERA last season. Baumgardner was injured most of last season and has had a great spring this year according to Ligouri.
Incoming freshmen pitchers include Grace Herrem of Fall Creek, Wis., and Emily King of Urbandale.
Three freshmen are vying for playing time behind the plate. They are Cali Richards of Des Moines, Luci Weber of Dubuque and Lucy Lucas of Polk City.
"We plan to catch all three of them a lot," said Ligouri, noting that three were all-staters in high school and are quality catchers.
Sophomore Mo Purdy heads three candidates looking for playing time at first base. The other two are freshman Brooklyn Teerlinck of Bettendorf and sophomore Baylor Gregory of Papillion, Neb.
"Gregory has had an outstanding spring camp," Ligouri said. "She played in the outfield last year but we have moved her to first base."
Sophomore Erin Ades of Boone, who was named first-team all-region last season, has moved from shortstop to second base and freshman Mackenzie Mohler of West Des Moines has the inside track to starting at shortstop. Mohler was a two-time all-state are West Des Moines Valley High School.
Sophomore Morgan Neuroth of LeGrand and freshman Bella Taylor of Winterset are the top two candidates at third base.
Sophomore Macee Reiling of Dallas Center, an All-American at third base in 2025, and sophomore Bri Tigges of Urbandale, an All-American in the outfield last season, are two of the Bears' three outfield candidates along with sophomore Jasey Anderson of Estherville.
"We feel we have one of the best freshman outfielders we've had here in a long time in Dana Blake of Indianola," Ligouri said. "She can play all three outfield positions and do incredibly well. We're probably going to play four a lot and a fifth candidate, Bella Louvar of Brandon, is battling out there as well."
Ligouri said one of the keys to the season is staying injury free and the second is consistency.
"We just really need to stay hammer to nail," Ligouri said. "When we are in our game we play pretty well. The thing we have to make sure of is that we bring it every day and that's something we've worked really hard on.
"When you look at this team, it's one of the most together teams we've had in recent history and we just need to build on that. If we do, we can really have something special."
Another possible concern is players buying into each other.
"When you have a lot of good players, everybody has to buy into the success of each other," Ligouri said. "I think this team has really bought into that but anytime you have competitive situations you want to make sure everybody stays together and nobody is going to get sideways when somebody else plays. It's a real balancing act. We have four outfielders and possibly five, we have five infielders and we have three first basemen. And somebody's going to (designate hit) too. Is everybody going to be able to stay with it and stay together when they are not the stars(?), they're just part of a really great group. That's a really critical thing and some teams do it better than others."
Following their games against HCC and SECC the DMACC softball team will travel to Oxford, Ala., Feb. 20 to 22 where the Bears will play six games in the JUCO Extravaganza. DMACC's first game will be against defending Division II national champion Copiah-Lincoln Community College (CLCC).
"Our schedule is the toughest it's ever been," Ligouri said. "We play 11 (NJCAA) Division II school and we have over 30 games scheduled against teams rated in Division I or Division II.
"People can look at our record and it might not be what it could have been had we scheduled differently but we try to get the best teams we can to play against," Ligouri said. "That's where you have the most fun."