Raiders win first softball National Championship with win over budding rivals

Northwest Florida State knocks off top seed Florida Southwestern to claim program's first national title.

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The third time is the charm for the Northwest Florida state softball team. For the third year in a row, the Raiders qualified for the NJCAA D1 softball World Series. The Raiders lost to Florida Southwestern 10-6 n the championship game in 2023. Last season, the Raiders lost in the semi-finals 3-2 to Temple College. This season, the Raiders finally broke through, this time defeatingFlorida Southwestern 4-1 in Yuma, Arizona. For Northwest Florida State, it's the first national championship in program history.

The City of Yuma and Arizona Western College hosted the NJCAA D1 Softball World Series for the third time, and for the third time, Florida Southwestern found themselves in the championship.

The Buccaneers won back-to-back national championships in Yuma in 2021 & 2022. Florida Southwestern would make it three straight in 2023 with a 10-6 win over Northwest Florida State in 2023 in Oxford, Alabama.

In 2025, Yuma again was the host city and again, Florida Southwestern made it to the very end as the #1 overall seed in the 20 team tournament.

Florida Southwestern had to make their way through the elimination bracket as they were defeated in the semi-finals by the Raiders of Northwest Florida State 3-1.

This year behind superb pitching from Cailyn Heyl and clutch hitting from Sara Watson, Bre Hughes and Karson McGowan, the Raiders finished the tournament undefeated.

Click here for tournament award winners.

Northwest Florida entered the tournament 2-7 all-time versus Florida Southwestern. The Raiders also pulled off a walk off win versus Odessa, a 5-4 win over the Wranglers which saw the Raiders trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Raiders then rallied for three runs in the sixth inning courtesy of a three run home-run from Sister Arnold. The Raiders then scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to win in dramatic fashion, sending them to their semi-final showdown with the Buccaneers.

The win now makes it six years in a row a team from the state of Florida has won the NJCAA D1 softball World Series.

The tournament next heads back to Oxford, Alabama and will be held there for the next three years.