EMPORIA, Kan. – The stage is set for the 2026 MIAA Softball Championship finale. Missouri Southern and Rogers State will compete for the 2026 tournament title and the automatic bid into the NCAA Division II postseason. It’s the first-ever meeting of the Lions and Hillcats in MIAA softball championship history.
 
The top ten teams from the regular season met in Emporia, Kansas this week for the Association’s postseason softball championship, hosted by Emporia State University May 6-9. Top-seeded Missouri Southern and No. 6 seed Rogers State are the only teams that remain in the tournament with semifinal victories on Friday, May 8.
 
Missouri Southern, the 2026 regular season champion, opened the postseason tournament with a 2-1 win over No. 9 seed Washburn in MIAA quarterfinals on Thursday, May 7. The Lions then downed the tournament host, No. 4 seed Emporia State, 6-1 in the MIAA semifinals on Friday to advance to Saturday’s semifinal showdown.
 
The Lions’ will compete for the MIAA tournament title for the second time in the last four seasons. The last time Southern advanced to the championship game was in 2023, when the Lions lost 11-4 to Central Oklahoma. Prior to the 2023 season, Missouri Southern was last in the championship finale in 2001 when the Lions won the program’s first and only MIAA tournament title.
 
Rogers State entered the postseason tournament as the No. 6 seed and collected back-to-back upset wins to return to the MIAA championship game for the fifth time in the past six seasons. The Hillcats first beat No. 3 seed Pittsburg State 5-0 in Thursday’s quarterfinals, then defeated No. 2 seed Central Oklahoma in a 7-5 semifinal thriller on Friday.
 
The Hillcats are no strangers to being successful in the conference tournament, having compiled a 15-5 record in the MIAA postseason, winning the MIAA championships in 2022 and 2024, and finishing as runner-up in 2021 and 2025.
 
Saturday’s championship game will be the third meeting between the Lions and Hillcats in the 2026 season and the first-ever meeting of the pair in the championship final. Missouri Southern swept Rogers State in their regular season MIAA doubleheader, 2-0 and 4-2.
The 2026 MIAA softball championship game is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. this Saturday in Emporia. Softball fans can purchase tickets to the finale online or on-site at Trusler Sports Complex. Fans can also watch the championship action live, exclusively on The MIAA Network.
 
For more information on the 2026 MIAA Softball Championship, visit theMIAA.com/softballchampionship.