UW-Oshkosh earned the top seed at the Eau Claire Regional and will play sixth-seeded Illinois College to open the 2021 NCAA Division III Softball Championship on Friday (May 21).
The first pitch between NCAA postseason automatic qualifiers UW-Oshkosh (24-11) and Illinois College (25-12) is scheduled for 10 a.m. at UW-Eau Claire’s Bollinger Fields.
The Eau Claire Regional features four games Friday and continues Saturday and Sunday (May 22-23). The winner at each of the eight six-team regionals advances to play for the national championship May 27-June 1 in Salem, Va.
Friday’s first round matchups at the Eau Claire Regional include second-seeded Alfred University (N.Y.) battling fifth-seeded Piedmont University (Ga.) (22-11) at noon and third-seeded Linfield College (Ore.) (36-7) taking on fourth-seeded University of Southern Maine (31-4-1) at 2 p.m. A game pitting the losers of the first two contests concludes the first day at 4 p.m.
UW-Oshkosh has never played any of the other five Eau Claire Regional participants since at least the 1985 campaign. The Titans, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season co-champions, are making their ninth NCAA postseason appearance after defeating fellow WIAC regular season co-champion UW-Whitewater during the third game of the league’s best-of-three championship series Sunday (May 16).
The Titans, who own a 14-17 record in the Division III Championship, made previous national tournament appearances in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1997, 2007, 2008, 2017 and 2018. UW-Oshkosh is seeking its third regional title (1988, 2017).
Illinois College, the Midwest Conference South Division regular season champion, secured its first trip to the national tournament by winning the final two games of the best-of-three MWC Championship Series over North Division regular season champion Lake Forest College (Ill.). All three games of the MWC tournament were played Saturday (May 15) at Illinois College.
UW-Oshkosh enters regional play with a .320 batting average and a 3.66 earned run average while ranking sixth in the country with a .978 fielding percentage.
Four Titans were named All-Great Lakes Region by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Catcher Hannah Ritter was selected to the All-Great Lakes Region Second Team for the Titans. Outfielder Natalie Dillon, pitcher Maddie Fink and second baseman Amanda Mc Ilhany received All-Region Third Team honors.
Fink garnered WIAC Pitcher of the Year accolades and joined Mc Ilhany and Ritter on the All-WIAC First Team. Outfielder Acacia Tupa was voted to the All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team for the Titans while the UW-Oshkosh head coach Scott Beyer along with assistants Alyssa Doomis and Kaitlyn Krol were named WIAC Coaching Staff of the Year after guiding the program to its fourth regular season title and first since 2007.
Ritter paces the team with a .472 batting average, 58 hits, 11 doubles, 72 total bases, a .585 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage to go along with 21 runs batted in.
Dillon is batting .444 on the year while Mc Ilhany is hitting .330 with a team-leading 21 runs scored, six doubles and 16 RBIs. Tupa, a two-time All-Great Lakes Region selection, heads into Friday with a .307 average, 20 runs scored, two home runs, 14 RBIs and a squad-best eight stolen bases.
Eight UW-Oshkosh regular starters are hitting .284 or better, including outfielder Kailee Garstecki at .316, infielder Emily Cliver at .315, shortstop Natalie Dudek at .312 and third baseman Ana Iliopoulos at .284. Garstecki’s 22 RBIs lead the club, and infielder Morgan Rau has a team-high four home runs and driven in 18 runs.
Fink has a 16-3 record in the Titans pitcher’s circle with two saves, a 2.29 earned run average and 88 strikeouts in 122.1 innings pitched. Fink, who has won each of her last seven decisions, paces the WIAC with four shutouts and 13 complete games.
Claire Petrus (4-4) and Mia Crotty (4-3 with one save) have combined to start 18 games for the Titans.
Illinois College heads into its NCAA tournament debut with a .296 batting average and a 2.15 earned run average. The Lady Blues have 13 shutout victories this season to rank ninth in the nation.
The Lady Blues had a pair of All-Great Lakes Region Second Team selections in pitcher Sydney Hood and outfielder Madisyn Webster, who is batting a team-best .451 with 55 hits, 34 runs scored, 13 steals and a .485 on-base percentage. All but five of Webster’s hits this season have been singles.
Jessica Belzer has not appeared in a game for Illinois College since April 25 but still paces the squad with 11 doubles, two home runs, 21 RBIs and a .608 slugging percentage.
Hood helms a Lady Blues pitching staff that includes Alissa Hodge and Julia Drake. Hood is 13-5 with a 1.29 earned run average, five shutouts and 99 strikeouts in 114 innings. Hodge has compiled a 7-4 mark with a 2.22 earned run average. Drake, who earned complete game wins in both of the team’s MWC Championship victories Saturday, is 4-1 with a 2.33 earned run average. Drake gave up just two runs and notched 17 strikeouts in 14 innings during a span of less than five hours to lead the Lady Blues to the NCAA postseason.
Ranked 17th in the country by the NFCA, Alfred University is making its fourth Division III Championship appearance and first since back-to-back trips in 2014-15. The Saxons won the Empire 8 Athletic Conference postseason title as the third seed, knocking off top-seeded and 14th-ranked St. John Fisher College (N.Y.) in the third and deciding game of the league’s championship series.
The Saxons, who have produced a 10-7 record in the NCAA postseason, are hitting .338 this season while their pitching staff sports a 2.06 earned run average.
Alfred University is eighth in the country with 110 stolen bases as All-Northeast Region First Team shortstop Ashley Lugo has accounted for 49 steals to rank second nationally. Lugo is batting .406 atop the Saxons lineup with 56 hits, 49 runs scored, 11 doubles, four triples, 29 runs batted in and a .457 on-base percentage.
Joining Lugo on the All-Northeast Region First Team were Alfred University pitcher Jessica Wilcox and second baseman Allison O’Toole. Saxons third baseman Tatiana Mejia and outfielder Alyssa Guitron were tabbed to the All-Region Third Team.
Guitron has a team-best .409 batting average to go along with 11 doubles and 29 RBIs. O’Toole, who did not play in the team’s first 11 games this season, is hitting .444 with 18 RBIs in 26 contests.
Saxons designated player Mya Wells was named Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and the all-conference first team, hitting .375 with 10 doubles, three home runs and a team-leading 34 RBIs. A total of seven Alfred University position players received All-Empire 8 laurels, including first baseman Elena Ceja on the Second Team and outfielder Sydney Saucedo on the Third Team. Ceja, who has a team-best four homers, and Saucedo are batting .351 and .299, respectively.
Wilcox, the Empire 8 Pitcher of the Year, boasts a 17-4 this season with a 1.32 earned run average, one save, seven shutouts, 17 complete games and 238 strikeouts in 143.1 innings. Wilcox is second in the division in strikeouts and sixth in shutouts.
Linfield College is back in the NCAA tournament for the 16th time since 2004. The Wildcats have a 71-32 record in the national postseason, winning Division III titles in 2007 and 2011, and finishing as the runners-up in 2010 and 2012. Linfield College’s 71 wins are the seventh most in tournament history.
The Wildcats have clinched regional titles each of their past four trips to the Division III Championship in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Linfield College, which reached the World Series in 2015, lost its 2019 super regional in three games to eventual national champion Texas Lutheran University.
Linfield College, ranked eighth in the country, secured an automatic berth into this year’s regionals after sweeping through the Northwest Conference Championship with three straight wins as the second seed.
The Wildcats have a .352 batting average and a 3.90 earned run average, winning on the strength of an offense that ranks second nationally in home runs (45) and runs scored (344), seventh in slugging percentage (.567) and stolen bases (113), and eighth in scoring (8.0).
Linfield College catcher Kamryn Apling and outfielder Kelsey Wilkinson both received All-West Region Second Team honors while Wildcats shortstop Katrina Johns, outfielder Baily Paul, designated player Emma Podliska and pitcher Tayah Kelley were tabbed to the Third Team.
Earning All-NWC honors but not regional accolades for the Wildcats were pitcher Maddy Podnar on the league’s First Team, outfielder Katie Phillips on the Second Team, and first baseman Abi Proffitt and third baseman Kamryn Mobley on the Honorable Mention Team.
Wilkinson, whose 32 steals rank 10th in the nation, is batting .392 with 60 hits, 13 doubles and 52 runs scored. Other offensive team leaders include Phillips with a .400 average and .634 slugging percentage, Paul’s 15 doubles, Mobley’s seven home runs, Proffitt’s 42 RBIs and Apling’s .522 on-base percentage.
Podnar and Kelley are the aces of the Linfield College pitching staff as the duo has accounted for all but 42 of the team’s innings and all but one of its starts. Podnar is 13-3 with a 3.30 earned run average and 78 strikeouts in 103.2 innings. Kelley is 17-4 with a 4.47 earned run average and 134 strikeouts in 131 innings.
University of Southern Maine returns to the NCAA field for the third time and first since consecutive trips in 1998-99. The Huskies, the Little East Conference regular season champion, acquired their first NCAA appearance this century despite falling to sixth-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University in the first two games of the LEC’s best-of-three final series. University of Southern Maine received one of this year’s seven at-large bids.
The Huskies, who have won only one of their previous five Division III Championship contests, travel to Wisconsin with a .359 batting average and a 2.34 earned run average.
University of Southern Maine pitcher Kirsten Pelletier was selected to the All-New England Region Second Team and catcher Ashley Tinsman was named to the region’s Third Team. Pelletier has a 13-1 record this season with a 2.50 earned run average and 64 strikeouts in 103.2 innings pitched. Tinsman is the Huskies’ leader with a .446 batting average, 54 hits, 42 runs scored, seven home runs, 49 RBIs, a .719 slugging percentage and a .496 on-base percentage. Tinsman’s 49 runs batted in rank seventh nationally.
Joining Pelletier and Tinsman on the All-LEC First Team were University of Southern Maine first baseman Rona Scott and pitcher Alexis Brown. Huskies second baseman Lauren Liedemann-Smith, shortstop Madison Day and outfielder Erin Martin received All-LEC Second Team laurels.
Brown, who is batting .358 with a team-leading 13 doubles at the plate, is 11-2 in the pitcher’s circle with a 2.37 earned run average and 64 strikeouts in 76.2 innings.
University of Southern Maine has just 14 steals in 15 attempts this season.
Piedmont University is making its second straight and eighth overall Division III Championship appearance. The Lions, who have a 12-14 record in the national tournament, are seeking their first World Series trip after reaching regional finals in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2019. Piedmont University’s 2019 tournament run ended with a one-run, extra-inning loss to eventual national runner-up Emory University (Ga.).
The Lions, the USA South Athletic Conference West Division regular season winner, earned an automatic bid into this year’s championship by winning the USA South Championship Series, two games to one, over North Carolina Wesleyan College.
Piedmont University is batting .308 on the year while compiling a 1.57 earned run average that ranks eighth in the country. The Lions’ 18 triples on the year are eighth most in the nation.
Outfielder Katelyn Perry, the USA South Player of the Year, was Piedmont University’s lone representative on the All-Atlantic Region Team, receiving First Team honors after hitting .432 with a team-best eight doubles, five triples, four home runs, 35 runs batted in, a .747 slugging percentage and a .482 on-base percentage.
The Lions’ Martina Maloch was named USA South Pitcher of the Year, producing a 9-2 record with a 1.63 earned run average and 63 strikeouts in 98.2 innings.
Joining Maloch and Perry on the All-USA South First Team were Lions second baseman TK Sauls and third baseman Kaitlin Isley while Emma McBrayer was voted the conference’s Rookie Pitcher of the Year. McBrayer sports an 11-8 record with a 1.24 earned run average. Isley and Sauls are batting .350 and .295, respectively.
The other seven regionals are being held in Bangor, Maine; Decatur, Ill.; Erie, Pa; Marshall, Texas; Seguin, Texas; Virginia Beach, Va.; and Waverly, Iowa.
