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Softball Seeks Outright Title as Augie Visits Wednesday

Titans can clinch No. 1 seed in CCIW Tournament with a win

4/29/2025 10:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The final games of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin regular season slate will have plenty of league tournament implications as the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team hosts Augustana College Wednesday, April 30, with hosting rights hanging in the balance. First pitch between the Titans and Vikings is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Inspiration Field.

Illinois Wesleyan enters the week with a 27-7 overall standing, including a 14-0 CCIW mark. The Titans can clinch the CCIW Regular Season Championship outright as well as the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for next week's conference tournament with a win. IWU most recently swept a four-game weekend slate in Wisconsin, April 26-27. After a pair of run-rule wins at Carroll, April 26, the Green and White spoiled Carthage's Senior Day with a sweep, April 27. IWU downed the Firebirds by scores of 8-1 and 2-1 to guarantee at least a share of the CCIW Regular Season title. The six-win week propelled the Titans into the NFCA Top-25, as IWU enters the week ranked 22nd nationally. Augustana is amid an outstanding year and will travel to Bloomington sporting a 24-10 overall record. The Vikings are 12-2 in conference play, having split with Carthage and Millikin earlier this month. Augie most recently stumbled in a non-conference doubleheader against Dubuque, April 28.

The Titans have 10 regular starters hitting better than .300 on the season, led by senior shortstop Jen Kuhn (Normal, Ill.-University High). Kuhn tops the team with a .449 average and also leads the team in hits (57), doubles (14), RBIs (49), slugging percentage (.677), and on-base percentage (.467). Freshman Grace Wilkens (Bartlett, Ill.-Bartlett) is second on the team with a .378 clip, while senior Ava Khoury (Columbia, Ill.-Columbia) sits third at .361. Khoury is tied with Kuhn for the team lead in doubles, while she is second with 34 runs driven in. Freshman Bella Pinter (LaMoille, Ill.-Saint Bede Academy) is batting .356 and paces the team with 19 walks to go along with 24 RBIs, while junior Claire Post (Normal, Ill.-Normal West) is the team's home run leader with eight roundtrippers. Post has been credited with 26 RBIs and is second to Kuhn in slugging (.646). Junior Anna Beckman (Bourbonnais, Ill.-Bishop McNamara), the team's run-scoring leader with 35, is hitting .331 with 42 hits and 27 RBIs. Junior Casey Wissmiler (Bloomington, Ill.-Olympia), sophomore Hailey Milgazo (Poway, Calif.-Poway), and freshmen Ella Hermes (Peru, Ill.-Saint Bede Academy) and Julia Wilkens (Bartlett, Ill.-Bartlett) also carry averages north of .300 as regulars in the Titan lineup.

Illinois Wesleyan's pitching staff has flexed its depth this season as six different hurlers have logged innings. Sophomore Mallory Holland (Shelbyville, Ill.-Shelbyville) owns a 1.37 earned run average, the best in conference, over 61.1 innings of work. Holland is holding opponents to a measly .172 batting average and has struckout 21 while compiling a 7-1 record alongside three saves. Junior Gianna Certa (Third Lake, Ill.-Grayslake North) has thrown a team-high 98.2 innings, amassing a 14-2 overall record and grabbing four saves. Certa is the team's strikeout leader with 66 and has tossed nine complete games.

IWU and Augie have a lengthy history as the 74-game series dates back to 1997. Illinois Wesleyan holds the advantage all-time, 47-27, and has won 11 of the past 12 matchups. The Green and White split a doubleheader on the Vikings home field May 4, 2024, on the final day of the regular season slate. With a 4-2 win in game one, the Titans wrapped up a CCIW Regular Season Championship, but went on to drop game two, 3-1. The two tangled six days later in the CCIW Tournament, where the Titans nabbed a 6-3 victory to advance to championship Saturday.

First pitch of Wednesday's crucial CCIW twin bill is on tap for 1 p.m., moving up one hour from the orginally scheduled time in anticipation of rain in the forecast. Links to the live stream and live stats for each of the two games can be found on the softball schedule page of iwusports.com.

NFCA/GoRout Division III Top 25 Softball Coaches Poll – April 29, 2025

Rank	Team	Points	2025 Record	Previous
1	East Texas Baptist (9)	249	33-3	1
2	Rowan (1)	241	39-1	2
3	Christopher Newport	230	32-4	3
4	Texas Lutheran	220	37-1	5
5	Trine	210	30-4	6
6	Virginia Wesleyan	200	36-3-1	7
7	Linfield	190	31-5	4
8	Salisbury	180	32-3-1	8
9	Huntingdon	170	34-3	9
10	Redlands	160	30-7	10
11	WashU	150	29-5	11
12	Saint Mary's (Minn.)	140	37-3	13
13	Moravian	130	31-5	12
14	Gettysburg	120	35-4	14
15	Belhaven	110	28-7	16
16	Case Western Reserve	100	24-9	17
17	Wisconsin-Whitewater	90	29-5	19
18	Wisconsin-Oshkosh	80	30-6	15
19	Baldwin Wallace	70	29-2	T21
20	Pfeiffer	60	30-7	T21
21	Simpson	42	30-6	20
22	Illinois Wesleyan	30	29-7	RV
23	Randolph-Macon	29	31-9	18
24	Ithaca	24	21-6	24
25	Hardin-Simmons	17	31-4	RV

Others receiving votes: Greenville 8.
Dropped out: Central, Chapman, Trinity (Texas) and Williams.

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