BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The College Conference of Illinois Wisconsin season begins for the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team this Saturday, April 8, with a twin bill against Wheaton College. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. and will serve as the athletic department's annual St. Jude weekend. 

Illinois Wesleyan rolls into Saturday's showdown with the Thunder on a five-game win streak. The Titans sit at 9-10 on the season overall and are coming off a 3-0 record at their home tournament, April 1-2. Meanwhile, Saturday will mark the third CCIW double dip of the season for the Thunder. Wheaton, which holds a 6-14 overall record and 1-3 CCIW mark, split a home doubleheader with North Central, April 6. Wheaton won game one, 8-1, but were stymied in game two, 6-1.

The Green and White offense has been led by senior Madison Moore (Verona, Wis.-Edgewood) and sophomore Ava Khoury (Columbia, Ill.-Columbia), who top the team with batting averages of .333. Moore has provided speed on the base paths, swiping a team-best nine bases, while Khoury's 14 RBIs and six homers are team-highs. Junior Megan Fontanetta (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Buffalo Grove) is second on the team with 10 RBIs, while topping the team with seven doubles. Moore ranks second with seven driven in.

Seniors Nina Mardjetko (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) and Natalie Grubczak (Medinah, Ill.-Lake Park) have led the way in the circle for IWU. Mardjetko leads the squad with a 1.97 earned run average over a team-high 67.2 innings pitched. She has secured a staff-leading six wins, with seven complete games, a shutout, and 47 strikeouts. Grubczak has three wins on the year with a 2.94 ERA over 40.2 innings of work. 

Wheaton, which enters the weekend with the league's best team batting average at .322, holds the eighth-ranked team ERA at 4.88 in the league. On the flip side, IWU is third in the conference with a 3.04 earned run average and has a team batting average of .256. Individually, Khoury leads the league in homers (6) and is third in slugging (.719) and OPS (1.116).

IWU and WC are no strangers, as the conference foes have squared off 57 times since 1997. Illinois Wesleyan owns a 48-9 lead in the all-time series and is currently on a six-game win streak against the Thunder. The Green and White has won 24 of the past 26 meetings, including both ends of last season's doubleheader (5-0 & 4-1).

First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Inspiration Field at Carol Willis Park. The games will be live streamed, with live stats also available through links found on the softball schedule page of iwusports.com.