Brenda Volk wants her UW-Whitewater softball team to play the next few weeks just as it did last weekend.
If that happens, the Warhawks would be in a national title hunt. Also, the scores of their games would be 2-1.
The Warhawks, the No. 4 seed in the six-team WIAC Tournament, won four games by that score to claim the tournament championship and earn the conference’s lone automatic bid into the 62-team NCAA Division III national tournament.
Two of the Warhawks’ wins came against No. 1-seeded UW-Oshkosh, which hosted the league tournament. The Titans won the regular-season WIAC title with a 12-2 record, which was one game better than UW-Eau Claire’s 11-3 mark.
The Warhawks finished in a third-place tie with UW-La Crosse at 9-5, but Whitewater came through in the tournament and will take a 32-8 record into the national event.
Volk says the Warhawks can play with any team in the Division III field.
“Last week’s regional poll had four teams in the regional rankings, so I think that confirms how strong our conference was,” Volk said. “As everyone knows, you want to be playing your best ball at the end of the season, so I am hoping we can take some momentum from this past weekend and build on it.”
The Warhawks will travel to Pella, Iowa, for their first round of regional play. Whitewater opens against Bethel (Minnesota) College. The Royals are 30-9. The first game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Host Central (Iowa) College (29-10) plays UW-Superior (25-13) in the four-team, double-elimination regional. The regional is scheduled to end Saturday. Sixteen teams will advance to the super regional round May 23-24.
Volk said pitching and defense were the major factors in the WIAC Tournament championship.
“We pitched really well and played excellent defense,” she said. “We were able to scratch across two runs each game and that ended up being enough.”
Sophomore reliever Brooke Hock earned a save in the team’s first three victories and got the win in the title game against UW-Oshkosh. Hock did not allow the Titans a hit in four innings of relief.
Hock is 6-1 with 11 saves in 24 relief appearances. She has a 1.17 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 12 walks.
“She has been our closer the last two seasons,” Volk said. “She has been really strong the last few weeks.”
Graduate student Maddy Anderson won two of the other three games, pitching a combined 10 1/3 innings allowing six hits and one walk while striking out 11. Anderson is 11-3 this season.
Rhiann Dick earned the pitching win in the other Warhawks victory and is 6-3 on the season.
Whitewater was fourth in team batting average in the WIAC with a .300 team average.
Junior third baseman Grace Wickman leads the Warhawks with a .422 average. Wickman had 54 hits, including 11 doubles, two triples and four homers and has driven in 26.
Junior Kiarra Kostroski, a junior utility player out of Fort Atkinson High, is second in batting average at .397. Kostroski has 46 hits with nine doubles, two triples and seven homers and has 26 RBI.
“If we play how we are capable of, we have a good chance to win,” said Volk, who has a 760-314-5 record in her 27th season as the Warhawks head coach. “We have great leadership in our senior class, and we have great followers, which I believe has made a huge impact in our success.”
Volk wants to see that success continue for three more weekends.
Most Popular
Comments / 0