NCAA Division III Final Bracket   |   NCAA D-III Softball Website

2018 NCAA Division III Softball Finals Website (includes ticket information)

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan softball team is the No. 6 seed in the championship round and will open against No. 3-seed Rowan University at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 24, in the NCAA Division III Softball Championships at the USA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Illinois Wesleyan (36-11-1) is making its 17th NCAA tournament appearance and its third straight entry into the NCAA final round of eight. The Titans took two-of-three at home against Wis.-Whitewater to win their third consecutive Super Regional last weekend. Go here to see a complete listing of all IWU postseason games.
 
Rowan University (39-11-1) defeated Moravian College in two 2-1 games on Sunday to win their own Glassboro, N.J. Super Regional. Rowan received an automatic bid to the national tournament as the New Jersey Athletic Conference Champion. It is the Profs' 26th appearance and eighth straight in the NCAA postseason. Rowan has advanced to the national finals five times and finished tied for third in 2016 and fourth in 1994 and 1993. In a second-day game in 2016, the Profs defeated IWU, 3-1, in Salem, Va., en route to their third place finish.

The championships open at 11 a.m. on Thursday with No. 1 seed and defending champion Virginia Wesleyan (50-2) playing No. 8-seed Ithaca College (33-11). That game will be followed at 1:30 p.m. by No. 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (38-9-1) vs. No. 5 Luther College (40-9), with the 4 p.m. game pitting No. 2 Texas-Tyler (43-3) against No. 7-seed Case Western Reserve (37-10).

IWU would play at 1:30 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. on Friday depending on the outcome of the Rowan game.

Go here to see the NCAA Division III Final Bracket.

TITAN NOTES: The 36 wins is tied for seventh most in an IWU season ... Illinois Wesleyan has a .319 team batting average and a 2.03 team earned run average ... The Titans have set single-season records for runs (285) and home runs (40) and are within five of setting the RBI mark ... IWU has 16 shutouts, two from tying the record of 18 (2009) ... Sophomore Ally Wiegand (17-4), a Schutt Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association D-III National Player of the Year finalist, has 202 strikeouts this season, good for second most in an IWU campaign behind Molly McCready's record of 203 in 2012 ... Sophomore shortstop Sam Berghoff has season records in doubles (19), runs batted in (63), slugging percentage (.911), and total bases (133) and is tied for the season mark in home runs (12) ... Berghoff and sophomore leftfielder Sydney Alery were the co-winners of the Bloomington, Ill., Super Regional Most Outstanding Player honor. Alery, who was also the "MOP" of the Transylvania Super Regional as a freshman, went 5-for-9 with two homers and a double in three games vs. Wis.-Whitewater.

Rowan Softball   |   Roster   |   Schedule   |   Statistics

BEHIND ENEMY LINES: Rowan has a .325 team batting average and a 1.41 team earned run average ... Sophomore righthander Lauren Shannon was named the Super Regional Most Outstanding Pitcher while junior shortstop Carly Anderson was selected the Most Outstanding Player. Shannon gave up two hits and one earned run while striking out nine batters in the second game Sunday while Anderson was 5-for-6 in the two wins ... Anderson is hitting .500 this season with 18 doubles, five homers and 43 runs batted in ... Sophomore righthander Jesse DeDomenico has a 23-7 record with a 1.04 earned run average with 161 strikeouts in 181.2 innings while Shannon is 14-2 with a 1.51 ERA. She has fanned 103 in 115.2 innings ... Senior rightfielder Morgan Smith leads the team with eight homers and is hitting .394 with 14 doubles and 36 RBI.