Erica Barker smiling at first base with Kimmy Hassell

Davis Nguy

Softball's Games Against Wheaton Moved Up to Friday

First pitch now set for 2 p.m. Friday, April 9

4/8/2021 1:29:00 PM

WHEATON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University softball team moved up this weekend's doubleheader at Wheaton College to a 2 p.m. start on Friday, April 9, due to inclement weather in the forecast on Saturday.

The Titans are 10-8 overall and 7-5 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin following a split at Augustana, April 6. The Green and White dropped game one, 1-0, before nabbing a 7-2 win in the nightcap. Wheaton enters the weekend 9-7 through 16 games and 6-4 in the CCIW. The Thunder is coming off a sweep at Carthage, where Wheaton fell 4-1 and 6-3 to the Firebirds.

The Titans and Thunder split a doubleheader at Inspiration Field last month, as Wheaton took game one 9-0 in five innings and IWU notched a 6-3 win in game two. Since 1997, the two teams have tangled 52 times. Illinois Wesleyan holds a 43-9 lead in the series all-time, and is 20-1 against the Thunder away from Bloomington.

Offensively, IWU is led by reigning CCIW Hitter of the Week Kristina Sherwin (Plainfield, Ill.-St. Francis). Sherwin tops the team with a .444 batting average, is tied for the team lead with 16 hits, and is second on the team with 15 RBIs. Junior Colleen Palczynski (Mt. Prospect, Ill.-Prospect) is hitting .327 on the year, and has seven homers and 21 RBIs to her name. The junior infielder's seven round-trippers lead the conference and are third-most nationally.

In the circle, sophomore Natalie Grubczak (Medinah, Ill.-Lake Park) has a team-best 2.13 earned run average, six complete games, and 50 strikeouts. She sits at 4-2 on the year, while sophomore Nina Mardjetko (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) is 3-2 on the season and has struck out 21 over 32.2 innings of work.

First pitch of the doubleheader can be viewed via Facebook Live by clicking here, while live stats for the games will be available here.

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