LINCOLN, Neb. — American Rivers Conference weekly honors opened the 2026 softball season with a Nebraska Wesleyan sweep.

Junior pitcher Eva Fahrnbruch and senior second baseman Jenna Kimberling were named the league's Pitcher and Position Player of the Week after leading the Prairie Wolves to a 2-2 showing at the Bethany Kwik Trip Invitational in Mankato, Minnesota, on Feb. 14-15. The awards include all games played to this point in the season.

Fahrnbruch, a junior from Aurora, Nebraska, posted a 1.05 ERA across two complete-game starts, logging 13 innings with three walks and limiting opponents to two earned runs. She opened the weekend with a six-inning effort in a 2-1 loss to No. 5-ranked Saint Mary's (Minn.), keeping a nationally ranked lineup in check. Fahrnbruch returned to earn the win in a 2-0 shutout of Gustavus Adolphus, scattering six hits over seven innings to secure Nebraska Wesleyan's first shutout of the season.

Kimberling, a senior from North Platte, Nebraska, paced the offense with a .417 average (5-for-12), two doubles, two triples and seven RBIs. She recorded hits in three of four starts and delivered a pivotal performance in a 6-2 win over Hamline, going 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs. Kimberling drove in seven runs during the weekend, including a key RBI in the win over Gustavus Adolphus.

Nebraska Wesleyan fell to Saint Mary's, 2-1, and St. Catherine's, 8-7, before closing the tournament with wins over Hamline and Gustavus Adolphus.

The Prairie Wolves return to action March 8 in Cocoa Beach, Florida, opening a 14-game spring break trip against Monmouth College at 3:45 p.m. CT.