BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan softball team will be making its seventh straight appearance, and 17th overall, into the 62-team NCAA Division III championships and will host Thomas More College at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 11, in the opening round of the regional.

No. 1-seeded IWU, with a 31-10-1 record, received the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin automatic bid into the NCAA regional. The regional's No. 4 seeded Thomas More is 31-14 this season and earned the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference automatic bid. These two team met earlier this season at the NFCA D-III leadoff classic which resulted in a 12-3 win for Illinois Wesleyan.

The Bloomington, Ill., regional begins with a 12 p.m. Friday game featuring No. 2-seed Transylvania University (32-7) against No. 3-seed DePauw University (23-20).

On Saturday, the winning teams will play at 11 a.m. with Friday's losing teams facing each other at 1:30 p.m. The two 1-1 teams will play an elimination game at 4 p.m. Saturday, leaving just two two teams to play for the regional title on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Tickets, all general admission and good for the entire day of play, are $10 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and $5 for students with a valid school ID and children. Children under age 2 get in free.

Illinois Wesleyan has a 38-34 record in 16 previous NCAA appearances and has advanced for the last two seasons to the Division III final round. Go here to see all previous NCAA results.

Thomas More is led on offense by Andrea Gahan, who in addition to her .473 batting average, ranks No. 3 nationally in home runs (16), No. 10 in hits (67), and No. 19 in RBI (53). As a team the Saints rank No. 15 home runs per game (.90) and No. 23 in slugging percentage (.516). Alix DeDreu (22-5) is the Saints top pitcher with a 2.12 ERA, alongside 163 strikeouts in 161.2 innings pitched. DeDreu is also solid with the bat hitting .353 with 40 RBI.

Transylvania (31-7) boasts one of the best pitchers in Division III in Renae Morton. Morton leads the country in ERA with a 0.44 ERA while also ranking No. 2 in shutouts with nine, No. 9 in hits allowed per game (4.00), and No. 29 in strikeouts (143). The Pioneers rank No. 2 nationally in team ERA (1.04) and have won 15 games by way of shutout. Transy's offense is hitting just .307 this season which ranks No. 172 in D-III. Illinois Wesleyan bested the Pioneers in last years NCAA Super Regional 2-1 in a three-game series.

DePauw (23-20) ranks No. 194 in batting average (.302) and No. 173 in ERA (3.49). Illinois Wesleyan defeated the Tigers three times this season by scores of 3-0, 7-3, and 10-1. The Tigers are led on offense by Liz Getz and Becca St. Germain who are hitting .395 and .394 respectively. Emma Baldwin is their top pitcher with a 2.66 ERA and 109 strikeouts.

This is the fifth year for the NCAA Division III softball postseason to feature 14 four-team regionals and two three-team regionals. The 16 winners will advance to play in Super Regionals (best two-of-three series) on May 18-19 with the Bloomington, Ill., winner meeting the winner from the Wisconsin-Whitewater regional featuring the host school, Benedictine, Coe and Trine.

The eight Super Regional winners will play in the finals, hosted May 24-29 at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, Okla.