South Dakota Softball’s Historic NCAA Tournament Berth Creates Emotional Homecoming for Nebraska Natives

Shannon Pivovar was sitting at South Dakota's Softball Selection Show watch party, anxiously waiting to see where the Coyotes would be playing in the program's first NCAA Regional.

In one split second, the memories came flooding back because the Coyotes are heading to Lincoln for a first-round date with the No.4 overall seed, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Buried in the details is the fact that Pivovar and seven student-athletes would be going home.

Pivovar grew up around Nebraska athletics. As a kid, she would go to work with her dad in Lincoln. Steve Pivovar covered the Huskers and was a sports writer at the Omaha World-Herald for over 45 years.

"I got to shadow my dad for a day, the football game against Mizzou that Matt Davison made the catch in the end zone," Pivovar recalled in a phone interview. "My dad used to pick my brother and me up from school and take us down to football practice or volleyball practice, and because they would practice until 4 or 5:00, while he was interviewing them, my brother and I would be down there playing catch with the players on the field. I remember doing things like that and thinking this is the coolest thing in the world. The stadium is massive, and how cool are we?"

Steve Pivovar passed away on Aug. 10, 2016. He didn't get to see his daughter help coach a South Dakota State team in 2018 that made its first NCAA Tournament, and he won't be in the stands at Bowlin Stadium on Friday. But his daughter will be in the first base coach's box and knows that he will be there in spirit.

Surreal for sure - the first person I thought about after the games. The amount of catch we played, games we went to, tough love we got…

I think he would be bias but @PivOWH would have had a lot of storylines to write for this one! Hope he’s got a good seat up above to watch! https://t.co/TYCm65VrtD
— Coach Piv (@Coach_Piv) May 11, 2026

"I don't really know how to accurately describe it in words," Pivovar said about how she was feeling on Sunday. "There were so many emotions because what an amazing accomplishment for this group of individuals that have come together and put our softball program into its first regional. The pride and joy I felt for them was almost overwhelming, but then, selfishly, we're going home."

Sara Iburg, Delaney White, Autumn Iversen, Allie Cromer, Piper Ruhl, Abi Brown, and Faith Mills are also going home. Iburg, White, and Ruhl are all from Lincoln, and the others are from the Omaha suburbs.

"It was really exciting to see our name up there," White told Softball On SI.

"I don't think it felt quite real until the teams started getting selected," Iburg added. "It's cool to know that we are going back home."

"I was just praying that we would end up in Lincoln," Iversen chimed in. "Finally seeing our name come up in that round, it brought tears to my eyes. I didn't think I was going to be emotional, but I almost started crying."

YOTES ARE DANCING! 🥳#GoYotes pic.twitter.com/0gS9doCxMp
— South Dakota Softball (@SDCoyotesSB) May 11, 2026

This season for the Coyotes has been far from perfect, with an overall record of 20-34-1. South Dakota enters the NCAA Tournament with the worst record in the field of 64. The only way they could get into the tournament was by winning the Summit League, and they did it twice.

"There was a point where we thought we wouldn't even make it to the conference tournament," Iversen said. "It was the first year that one of the teams didn't get to go, and we thought, 'Holy crap, we got to get it together.'"

Sitting at 10-29-1 and 2-7 in league play, the Coyotes knew that they had to win their series against North Dakota and Kansas City if they wanted to extend their season.

"Those were games we had to win," Iburg said. "I feel like that's what flipped the switch, and then playing UNO (Omaha) in season and realizing we could compete with them."

Since losing to Iowa State on April 14, South Dakota has gone 9-5 with three wins over Summit League-favorite, Omaha.

The Coyotes opened the Summit League Tournament with a 5-4 win over Kansas City and then beat Omaha and South Dakota State to secure a spot in the finals. The Mavericks eliminated the Jackrabbits and then run-ruled the Coyotes to force the if necessary game.

The rest is history.

South Dakota opens the NCAA Tournament against Nebraska, and despite NU being ranked No. 1 in the NFCA Coaches Poll, there is no fear in the underdog mentality.

"I feel like in the past week we've kind of gone with a we have nothing to lose mentality, and it continues because we're not expected to win," White said. "Nobody expects it."

The Coyotes and Huskers are set for a 5:30 p.m. first pitch at Bowlin Stadium on Friday. The game will stream on ESPN+ with Beth Mowins, Michele Smith, and Jessica Mendoza on the call.

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