The Panther softball team opened up their weekend against the Valparaiso Beacons, which saw four and a half scoreless innings. With runners on first and second, Addison McElrath ended that by launching a long ball before Valpo scored a run in the top of the sixth inning. Kate Lappe secured a home run on the first pitch of her at-bat to give UNI a 4-1 lead. The Beacons had the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, but the Panthers got out of it and secured the game with a 4-1 victory. 

Game two saw a four-run first inning from Northern Iowa that gave them the early lead after a two-run home run by Kylee Sanders. She scored Skylar Benesh, and an RBI from Ella Smithson got Lappe and McElrath in. Valpo scored what would be their lone run in the top of the second. McElrath had a two-RBI double that drove in Benesh and Sanders to give the Panthers a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth, and it would be the ending score of the second game of the weekend. 

Game three of the weekend saw UNI crack the scoreboard, with Sanders pitching a one-out single that led to back-to-back walks by McElrath and Drew Henricks to load up the bases. Lappe opened up scoring with a third straight walk, as Katelyn Callahan would go on to score another run with an RBI single to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Smithson added a third run to the score for UNI, opening the frame with a fourth walk to score Henricks and take the 3-0 lead. 

Northern Iowa’s offense continued in the second as Benesh drew a lead-off walk. A Sanders grounder advanced Benesh to second, as McElrath would drive in Benesh with an RBI single for a 4-0 lead. Lappe followed up by crushing a home run to put the team ahead 6-0. The Panthers would go on to etch another run in the bottom of the fourth as Sanders led off with a walk. Adalyn Reynolds would move to second on a stolen base as Lappe secured a four-pitch walk. With runners on base, Callahan scored her second RBI that fell in the field to score Reynolds for a 7-0 win.