Box Score
View Photos from NCAA Regional Tournament
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The top-seeded Illinois Wesleyan Titans opened Thursday's play in the Bloomington, Illinois Regional of the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament with a 4-1 victory against St. Norbert College. The Titans scored four runs, on seven hits, with no errors and St. Norbert scored one run, on six hits, with three errors.
Illinois Wesleyan improves to 37-6 and advances to play at 2 PM on Friday against No. 4-seed Wisconsin-Eau Claire (33-12), a 6-1 winner over No. 5-seed Fontbonne.
St. Norbert is now 17-19 and will play Fontbonne (27-11) in an elimination game at 10 AM on Friday.
Titan starting pitcher
Alyssa Vorel (13-2) earned the win in seven innings as she allowed one unearned run, on seven hits. Vorel struck out nine SNC batters and walked two. Sophomore designated hitter
Allie Riordan was 2-for-3 at the plate for the Titans. Junior shortstop
Courtney Martin was 2-for-4, with a pair of runs. Freshman leftfielder
Audra James was 2-for-4 and junior rightfielder
Stephanie Polich was 1-for-3 for the hosts, with a run scored and a RBI.
St. Norbert pitcher Shannen Schmidt (10-10) took the loss in six innings. Schmidt allowed four runs, one of which was earned, on seven hits, with four walks and two strikeouts. Shortstop Steph Brunette was 3-for-4 for SNC. Abby Gildernick was 2-for-3, driving in St. Norbert's lone run.
St. Norbert took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as a RBI-single by Gildernick gave the visitors an early lead. The Titans tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning as Polich drove in a run on a bunt single.
Illinois Wesleyan took its first lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Riordan reached on a SNC error, allowing Martin to score the go-ahead run. The Titans added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as St. Norbert throwing error following a single by Martin that allowed Polich and, eventually, Martin to score, extending the IWU lead to the final score of 4-1.
The 37 victories is tied for third most in an IWU softball season. The record is 39 (2001), followed by 38 (2003), and 37 (2009).
