diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index bce5da214..7106d773f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/blevesearch/go-porterstemmer v1.0.3
 	github.com/blevesearch/goleveldb v1.0.1
 	github.com/blevesearch/gtreap v0.1.1
-	github.com/blevesearch/scorch_segment_api/v2 v2.4.10
+	github.com/blevesearch/scorch_segment_api/v2 v2.4.11-0.20260915175815-2512945d4649
 	github.com/blevesearch/segment v0.9.1
 	github.com/blevesearch/snowball v0.6.1
 	github.com/blevesearch/snowballstem v0.9.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 92dce1c72..3ed5f74d5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ github.com/blevesearch/mmap-go v1.2.0 h1:l33nNKPFcBjJUMwem6sAYJPUzhUCABoK9FxZDGi
 github.com/blevesearch/mmap-go v1.2.0/go.mod h1:Vd6+20GBhEdwJnU1Xohgt88XCD/CTWcqbCNxkZpyBo0=
 github.com/blevesearch/scorch_segment_api/v2 v2.4.10 h1:C3873+iWZ0YJM2ijaSHhJJzSvD4x1k+5UaQdGygZVhM=
 github.com/blevesearch/scorch_segment_api/v2 v2.4.10/go.mod h1:WUUkAocbkDlNK/kgAE13NvS9oxe+u618mYZ8sOvcCc4=
+github.com/blevesearch/scorch_segment_api/v2 v2.4.11-0.20260915175815-2512945d4649 h1:SZBy+klSH8iu9U4llxUreOgN9PM6Pddh+t9ClKsPTw0=
+github.com/blevesearch/scorch_segment_api/v2 v2.4.11-0.20260915175815-2512945d4649/go.mod h1:WUUkAocbkDlNK/kgAE13NvS9oxe+u618mYZ8sOvcCc4=
 github.com/blevesearch/segment v0.9.1 h1:+dThDy+Lvgj5JMxhmOVlgFfkUtZV2kw49xax4+jTfSU=
 github.com/blevesearch/segment v0.9.1/go.mod h1:zN21iLm7+GnBHWTao9I+Au/7MBiL8pPFtJBJTsk6kQw=
 github.com/blevesearch/snowball v0.6.1 h1:cDYjn/NCH+wwt2UdehaLpr2e4BwLIjN4V/TdLsL+B5A=
diff --git a/index/scorch/snapshot_index.go b/index/scorch/snapshot_index.go
index a363ecb71..fb0a14a8b 100644
--- a/index/scorch/snapshot_index.go
+++ b/index/scorch/snapshot_index.go
@@ -622,6 +622,18 @@ func (is *IndexSnapshot) InternalID(id string) (rv index.IndexInternalID, err er
 	return next.ID, nil
 }
 
+// releasePostings returns v to its implementation's internal pool if it
+// opts into segment.Releasable. This is an optional capability, the same
+// idiom as segment.OptimizablePostingsIterator: most segment.PostingsList/
+// PostingsIterator values built by query optimization (e.g. the unadorned
+// iterators in unadorned.go) don't back onto pooled memory and this is a
+// no-op for them.
+func releasePostings(v interface{}) {
+	if rel, ok := v.(segment.Releasable); ok {
+		rel.Release()
+	}
+}
+
 func (is *IndexSnapshot) TermFieldReader(ctx context.Context, term []byte, field string, includeFreq,
 	includeNorm, includeTermVectors bool,
 ) (index.TermFieldReader, error) {
@@ -684,8 +696,9 @@ func (is *IndexSnapshot) TermFieldReader(ctx context.Context, term []byte, field
 		var prevBytesReadPL uint64
 		if rv.postings[i] != nil {
 			prevBytesReadPL = rv.postings[i].BytesRead()
+			releasePostings(rv.postings[i])
 		}
-		pl, err := rv.dicts[i].PostingsList(term, s.deleted, rv.postings[i])
+		pl, err := rv.dicts[i].PostingsList(term, s.deleted, nil)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -694,8 +707,9 @@ func (is *IndexSnapshot) TermFieldReader(ctx context.Context, term []byte, field
 		var prevBytesReadItr uint64
 		if rv.iterators[i] != nil {
 			prevBytesReadItr = rv.iterators[i].BytesRead()
+			releasePostings(rv.iterators[i])
 		}
-		rv.iterators[i] = pl.Iterator(includeFreq, includeNorm, includeTermVectors, rv.iterators[i])
+		rv.iterators[i] = pl.Iterator(includeFreq, includeNorm, includeTermVectors, nil)
 
 		if bytesRead := rv.postings[i].BytesRead(); prevBytesReadPL < bytesRead {
 			rv.incrementBytesRead(bytesRead - prevBytesReadPL)
diff --git a/index/scorch/snapshot_segment.go b/index/scorch/snapshot_segment.go
index 806ca2f39..ab4e6e7d9 100644
--- a/index/scorch/snapshot_segment.go
+++ b/index/scorch/snapshot_segment.go
@@ -243,14 +243,20 @@ func (cfd *cachedFieldDocs) prepareField(field string, ss *SegmentSnapshot) {
 	next, err := dictItr.Next()
 	for err == nil && next != nil {
 		var err1 error
-		postings, err1 = dict.PostingsList([]byte(next.Term), nil, postings)
+		if postings != nil {
+			releasePostings(postings)
+		}
+		postings, err1 = dict.PostingsList([]byte(next.Term), nil, nil)
 		if err1 != nil {
 			cfd.err = err1
 			return
 		}
 
 		cfd.size += uint64(size.SizeOfUint64) /* map key */
-		postingsItr = postings.Iterator(false, false, false, postingsItr)
+		if postingsItr != nil {
+			releasePostings(postingsItr)
+		}
+		postingsItr = postings.Iterator(false, false, false, nil)
 		nextPosting, err2 := postingsItr.Next()
 		for err2 == nil && nextPosting != nil {
 			docNum := nextPosting.Number()