2017 NCAA Division III Softball Championship Bracket    |    Alma Regional Website

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan softball team will be making its sixth straight appearance, and 16th overall, into the NCAA Division III championships and will play Otterbein College at 1 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, May 12, at the regional hosted by Alma (Mich.) College.

The Titans have a 31-12 record and earned their way into the 62-team NCAA tourney by winning the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin title last weekend while The Cardinals are No. 25 in the latest national Division III poll with a 34-6 record.
The regional host school, Alma College (27-8), will square off against DePauw University (23-19) in the other regional first-round game at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday.

Tickets for the regional will be sold on a daily basis and priced as follows: $6 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and veterans and $3 for students and children under the age of 12. Children age 2 and under are admitted free with a paying adult, per NCAA rules.

This season the Titans are 4-5 against regionally ranked opponents, while Otterbein was 4-1. Both teams played a common opponent this season in Augustana College. Otterbein defeated the Vikings 5-4 in their season-opener.

Otterbein will need to watch out for sophomore outfielder Jillian Runyon who currently ranks No. 32 in NCAA Division III with 58 hits and No. 2 in stolen bases per game with 1.23 per contest. Runyon excels at getting herself into scoring position which allows her to score 1.25 runs per game. Otterbein catcher Bailey McElwain has been solid at catching runners stealing this season, catching 5-of-15 potential base stealers in 2017.

The Cardinals have had success offensively this season, ranking 25th in the country with a .345 team batting average. Three starters comes into this week's game hitting above .400 for the season, with Alyson Shaw hitting .462 on the year with 15 doubles. Otterbein pitching ace Gabby Johnson has the 26th lowest ERA in Division III at 1.16 and allows the 10th fewest hits per game with just 4.17 per game.

Following is the schedule for the 2017 NCAA Division III Softball Regional (all times Eastern):

Friday, May 12
1 p.m. - Game 1 - Illinois Wesleyan vs. Otterbein
3:30 p.m. - Game 2 - Alma vs. DePauw
Saturday, May 13
11 a.m. - Game 3 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
1:30 p.m. - Game 4- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
4 p.m. - Game 5 - Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Sunday, May 14
12 p.m. - Game 6 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
2:30 p.m. - Game 7 (if necessary) - Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6

The winner of the four-team regional advances to the best-of-three super regional series, May 19-20, with that winner advancing to the NCAA finals in Oklahoma City, Okla., May 25-30.

Historically, IWU teams have posted a 32-31 record (.508 winning percentage) in 15 previous NCAA competitions, including a trip to the final round in Salem, Va., last spring. Go here to see previous IWU NCAA tournament appearances.