BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - With the regular season winding down, the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team will play host to Elmhurst University Saturday, April 29, with a 2 p.m. first pitch. The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin twin bill will also serve as IWU's Senior Day, as the Titans will recognize Madison Moore (Verona, Wis.-Edgewood), Natalie Grubczak (Medinah, Ill.-Lake Park), Ambria May (Shorewood, Ill.-Joliet West), Erica Barker (Linton, Ind.-Linton-Stockton), and Nina Mardjetko (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) pregame. IWU will then take on North Park Sunday, April 30, in the Windy City. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.

The Green and White is 19-12 (9-1 CCIW) on the season after splitting a CCIW doubleheader with North Central, April 27. Elmhurst enters the weekend 15-16 overall and an even 6-6 in the CCIW. The Bluejays also enter off a split, having taken one of two at North Park, April 25. NPU is amid a historic season, having posted its most CCIW wins in program history. The Vikings enter the weekend 15-18-1, with a 7-5 CCIW mark, following a split at Carthage, April 26.

Illinois Wesleyan and Elmhurst have met 52 times ahead of this weekend's set, with IWU leading the series, 40-12. Although the all-time series has been rather lopsided, recent years have seen the two teams split. The Titans swept the Bluejays last season by scores of 8-3 and 8-0, but it was EU that came out on top in 2021, 5-4 and 8-4. Saturday will see IWU look for its first win at home against Elmhurst since the 2019 campaign. Meanwhile, Sunday will be the 53rd and 54th all-time meetings with NPU. IWU has won each of the previous 52 bouts, including a sweep of the VIkings, April 27, 2022 by scores of 7-2 and 7-3.
The Green and White has four players ranked inside the top-10 in the conference's batting average rankings, and five in the slugging percentage category. Both are the most of any team in the league. Junior Bailey Turner (Normal, Ill.-Normal West) tops the team with a .438 average over 10 CCIW games, good for fourth-best in the conference. Moore and sophomore Jen Kuhn (Normal, Ill.-University High) are fifth and sixth, respectively, with marks of .419 and .417. Sophomore Isabelle Piwowarczyk (Hometown, Ill.-Oak Lawn) is tied for ninth at .400. Sophomore Ava Khoury's (Columbia, Ill.-Columbia) .811 slugging percentage is second-highest in the conference, while freshmen Casey Wissmiller (Bloomington, Ill.-Olympia), freshman Claire Post (Normal, Ill.-Normal West), Moore, and Kuhn are ranked sixth through ninth.

Kuhn is fourth in the conference with 12 runs scored, while Khoury and Wissmiller are tied for fourth with 12 RBIs. IWU also has five players in the conference's top-10 in homers, led by Khoury's four, which is tied for second-most.

The Titans hold the league's second-best earned run average with a 2.64 clip over 69.0 innings pitched. All four hurlers have seen action in the circle for the Green and White during league play, with Mardjketko and Grubczak eating up a majority of the innings. Mardjetko is fourth in the conference in strikeouts with 27, and ranks third in wins with five.

First pitch of Saturday's double feature is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Inspiration Field. The Senior Day recognition is scheduled to start around 1:45 p.m. Live stats and a live stream of the games, including the pregame ceremony, can be found on the softball schedule page of iwusports.com.