It's been an incredible 2026 season for the UBC Thunderbirds (31-22, 15-9), and their history-making postseason run has one more stop on the itinerary: the NAIA World Series.
 
It's the first time that the T-Birds have ever qualified for the final, 10-team tournament to decide who lifts the NAIA National Championship banner. After a busy nonconference schedule far from home, facing one of the toughest regular season schedules around in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, and taking down multiple nationally-ranked programs in the NAIA Championship Opening Round, the blue and gold are a gritty, battle-tested group.
 
"One of the biggest things we've talked about all year is staying true to us and who we are," said UBC head coach Jennifer McKellar on what her team's mindset will be heading into the World Series. "One of the big motivators for our team is being relentless, but also just having fun, and being grateful and enjoying the moment.
 
"I don't think any of those things are going to change, we just have a new venue and new teams to prepare for, like we did for [the Opening Round] but at a slightly larger level. Our goal is to stay true to us, to embrace the moment, be grateful to be there, and compete every pitch to continue making history for our program."


 
After winning their Opening Round tournament while seeded fourth out of the five teams in Oklahoma City, the Thunderbirds will again be the underdogs in the World Series as they enter as the No. 10 seed. The six-day, double elimination tournament runs from Thursday, May 21 to Wednesday, May 27 at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, Georgia.
 
While the event features a number of unfamiliar squads, the T-Birds will play their first game of the World Series against a very familiar one – the College of Idaho Yotes (37-20, 13-12), the team that beat UBC in the opening game of the CCC Championship.
 
College of Idaho have been on fire since splitting the regular season series against the Thunderbirds back at the beginning of April, winning nine of their final 12 regular season games and sporting a 7-2 record in the playoffs. That includes a runner's up finish at the conference championship and a clean sweep of their Opening Round tournament.


 
Whoever wins the battle between the T-Birds and Yotes at 4:00 p.m. (PT) on Thursday will move on to face the No. 2 seed Southeastern Fire (48-8, 22-2) the following afternoon. The loser will remain alive, but will have to play an elimination game against either another familiar foe in the No. 3 Southern Oregon Raiders (44-13, 16-8), or the No. 6 Cumberlands Patriots (40-19, 12-6).
 
The Thunderbirds will be playing with plenty of confidence after knocking off Oklahoma City University in the Opening Round, making this just the 10th time in 45 years that the Stars haven't made it to the World Series.

It was their defence that led the way through the Opening Round, with the Thunderbirds committing just four errors in their five games compared to eight for their opponents, and allowing just five runs across their four wins combined. With reliable fielding combined with elite pitching from Carleen Murray – who threw 26 out of 35 innings last week while allowing just three runs in total, striking out 27 of the 100 batters she faced – the T-Birds have shown they can shut down any offence if they're playing to their top potential.


 
Offensively, four T-Birds had two or more games with multiple hits in the Opening Round. Three of them were amongst their veterans recognized with CCC All-Star nods – Jessica Heutink (First Team), Brielle Donoghue (Second Team) and Kennedy Laird (Honorable Mention) – all in either their third or fourth year of eligibility.
 
The other? First-year infielder Tegan Harnett, who landed three hits in three different Opening Round games, after not having a single three-hit game all season before last week. With fellow true freshmen Lauren Hounsell, Ava Bromley and Mila Anderson (as well as redshirt freshmen Madison Hiebert and Claire Hill) all seeing action in Oklahoma, the combination of youth and experience have blended together to form a dynamic team that's peaking at the right time.


 
"This group is so special, so the fact that we get to go and finish our season at the final destination is incredible," said McKellar. "But it's also many, many years in the making. It's many talented athletes and coaches at UBC and support staff in the department, and this culture of success that UBC breeds.
 
"Our program getting the chance to add our name to a very long list of talented teams and Thunderbird programs, and carve out some of our own history, it means the world to me…I'm so thankful for all the work and support that goes on behind the scenes, and is many years in the making to get to a moment like this."
 
You can tune into every game of the NAIA World Series live and on-demand for free on the Urban Edge Network. CLICK HERE for the full tournament schedule.