Titans Travel North To Open 2015 Season

The UW-Oshkosh women's softball team begins the 2015 season with four games at the Finlandia University Dome Invitational this weekend in Marquette, Mich.

The Titans open their 45th season on Saturday (Feb. 28) against Concordia University Wisconsin and Lakeland College. UW-Oshkosh concludes play on Sunday (March 1) against Simpson College (Iowa) and Marian University. The games will be played at Northern Michigan University's Superior Dome.

Last season, Concordia University Wisconsin compiled a 22-19 record as a fifth-place finisher, Marian University a 14-24 record as a seventh-place finisher and Lakeland College a 14-22 record as an 11th-place finisher in the 12-team Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Simpson College tallied a 27-15 record as a second-place finisher in the eight-team Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

UW-Oshkosh returns 11 letter winners from last year's squad that produced a 23-11 record and finished third in the WIAC standings with an 11-3 mark. The Titans reached the 20-win mark for the 11th consecutive season and led the WIAC in both batting average (.344) and doubles (76).

Highlighting the returning Titans are shortstop Haley Bayreuther, catcher Katie Koepsel and outfielder Hayden Krueger. The trio earned all-region accolades and started every game last season.

Bayreuther hit .370 a year ago and led the team with 39 runs, 13 stolen bases and a .496 on-base percentage while leading the conference with four triples.

Koepsel, a three-time all-region selection, hit .418 and set a WIAC record last season with 20 doubles. She also paced the team with seven home runs, including three during a win over UW-Platteville, and 43 runs batted in.

Krueger, an all-region honoree the past two years, hit .413 while compiling a team-best .702 slugging percentage. She also counted 31 runs, 10 doubles, six home runs and 33 runs batted in.

UW-Oshkosh returns six starting position players but must replace pitcher Jill Vondrak, who accounted for 12 of the team's 23 wins and more than half of the squad's innings pitched. Expected to fill the pitching void are sophomore Sara Brunleib and freshman Clare Robbe.

Second-yead head coach Scott Beyer's Titans travel to Rochester, Minn., on March 7 to play Bethel University (Minn.) and Buena Vista University (Iowa) at the Rochester Dome.