Junior Nina Mardjetko (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) threw a no-hitter to propel the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team to a split with Carthage College on Senior Day Saturday, April 23, at Inspiration Field.

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Softball Set for Four-Game Weekend at WashU

Titans to tangle with WashU and Coe, March 4-5

3/2/2023 12:00:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University softball team eyes its first win of the season this weekend, March 4-5, as the Titans head to St. Louis, Mo. for games against 23rd-ranked Washington University in St. Louis and Coe College. The Green and White will play split doubleheaders with the Bears and Kohawks, beginning Saturday, March 4, as the Titans battle WashU in a 1 p.m. first pitch. IWU will then take on Coe, who is receiving votes in the NFCA Preseason Top-25, at 3 p.m. Sunday will see Illinois Wesleyan play Coe at 11 a.m. and WashU at 3 p.m.

The Titans are in search of their first win of the young season after dropping both ends of a doubleheader at Transylvania University, Feb. 26. IWU fell in heartbreaking fashion, 2-1, on a walk-off in game one, before being blanked 5-0 in game two.

WashU, which will open the season Saturday against Coe, is in its first season under the direction of Casey Cromwell. Also in her first season with the Bears is former Illinois Wesleyan athletic communications graduate assistant Michaela Guthrie, who was named an interim assistant coach for WashU earlier this winter.

Coe heads into the weekend perfect on the season at 2-0, following wins over St. Catherine University and Gustavus Adolphus College at the Bethany Lutheran Dome Invite, Feb, 25. After several years as an assistant coach, Jake Koolbeck leads the Kohawks in his first season as head coach.

The Titans have played a combined 39 games against WashU and Coe since 2001. IWU holds a slim 14-13 edge in the series with the Bears and won the most recent meeting, 4-3, April 2, 2021. The win snapped a three-game losing skid against WashU. Meanwhile, the Coe-IWU ledger is even at 6-6 since 2001. Meeting the Kohawks for the first time since 2019, Illinois Wesleyan will look to extend its win streak to six against Coe Saturday. The Titans swept a pair of games against the Kohawks in St. Louis March 23-24, 2019, winning by scores of 3-2 and 3-0.

Leading the IWU offense is senior Madison Moore (Verona, Wis.-Edgewood), who has picked up where she left off. Moore leads the team in hits and batting average as she is hitting .500 through two games, going 3-for-6 at the plate.

In the circle, the Titans' season-opening doubleheader at Transy saw freshman Gianna Certa (Third Lake, Ill.-Grayslake North) made her collegiate debut. She tossed six innings, giving up eight hits and striking out five. She allowed two runs and walked none, and currently holds a season earned run average of 2.33.

Links to live stats and the live stream for this weekend's games will be available on the softball schedule page of iwusports.com.

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