Softball | 5/19/2016 3:44:00 PM
2016 NCAA Division III Bracket
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The No. 18-nationally ranked Illinois Wesleyan softball team will play at No. 5-ranked Luther College in the NCAA Super Regional May 20-21 in Decorah, Iowa. The Super Regionals are a best two-of-three series at 16 sites and the eight winners will advance to play in the NCAA finals May 26-31 at Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Va.
The first game will be at 4 p.m. Friday, May 20, and the second day's action will get underway at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 21. Live video streaming will be available
at this link.
TITAN TIDBITS: The Titans (33-10) won their second regional title in the last three years and are playing in their fifth straight NCAA postseason ... Illinois Wesleyan has a 30-28 overall in 15 NCAA appearances ... This is the fifth straight year and the 18th time overall for an IWU team to win 30 or more games. The record is 41 wins (41-7) in 2014 ... Illinois Wesleyan won its 14th College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin regular season title in 2016, its third straight and fourth in the last five seasons ... In her third season, head coach
Kat McCreery has a 110-27 record (.803 winning percentage) ... Sophomore
Mackenzie Marquis (17-5, 2.28 ERA) and senior
Jenna Noland (12-4, 1.97 ERA) will be in the circle for Illinois Wesleyan ... Noland is the school's career leader with 8.86 strikeouts/7 innings and third with 450 career Ks. Her 39 career wins is sixth most at the school and the .187 oppponent batting average is the fourth best for an Illinois Wesleyan pitcher in history ... Marquis is ninth all-time at IWU with 190 career strikeouts and seventh with a 1,85 earned run average. She was selected as the regional's "Most Outstanding Player" as she pitched 18 innings and allowed only one unearned run. Her 17 wins is tied for ninth in a Titan season (the record is 22) and her 28 appearances is tied for fourth (the record is 32) ... Freshman centerfielder
Jillian Runyon holds the school season record with 40 stolen bases and is fifth in an IWU season with 43 runs scored ... Senior catcher
Danielle Smith has the fifth highest on base percentage (.465) and slugging percentage (.565) in school career reciords and her .379 career average is eighth best ... Senior
Laura Bonds has a .402 career average, third best in an IWU uniform ... Senior leftfielder
Mary Rankin has the ninth highest on base percentage (.436) and 10th highest slugging percentage (.533) in school career records ... Freshman
Julie Josten has 13 doubles, tied for seventh most in a season ... Nationally, Runyon is fifth with 0.93 steals per game while Marquis is 17th (4.67) and Noland is 19th (4.79) in fewest hits allowed per 7-inning game.
NORSE NOTES: With a 39-3 record, Luther is making its 17th appearance in the national tournament and ninth in the past 10 years ... Two of Luther's losses this season were to St. Catherine's, who they defeated to win the regional. Their other loss was a 12-4 setback at Wartburg ... Under head coach Renae Hartl, the Norse made four consecutive appearances in the NCAA National Championship Finals, finishing fifth in 2013, 2012 and 2010 and seventh in 2011. Hartl is in her 15th season as head coach and has a 472-164 record (.742 winning percentage) ... As a team, Luther is fourth in Division III nationally with a 1.32 earned run average and seventh in the country with a .370 batting average ... Senior second baseman Miranda McCay (.378, 12 2B, 43 runs scored) was named Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Position Player of the Year and, for the second straight season, junior Amanda Witzlib (15-2, 1.17 ERA) was named the IIAC Pitcher of the Year. Witzib has 114 strikeoouts in 96 innings ... Luther is led by rightfielder Lindsey Uphoff with a .448 average and all 48 of her hits are singles ... Leftfielder Ashley Burrows (.445) and centerfielder Sara Nelson (.403) are also over .400 ... Samantha Bratland has a 19-1 record and a 1.27 earned run average. She has 181 strikeouts in 126 2/3 innings ... Nationally, Witzlib ranks second (3.65) and Bratland ranks third (3.79) in fewest hits allowed per 7-inning game ... The Norse are 12-1 on their home field.
