Titans Land Four Players On All-Region Softball Team
The conference regular season co-champion UW-Oshkosh softball team's Natalie Dillon, Maddie Fink, Amanda Mc Ilhany and Hannah Ritter were each named to the 2021 NCAA Division III All-Great Lakes Region Team by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Ritter, a freshman catcher, was selected to the NFCA's All-Great Lakes Region Second Team while junior outfielder Dillon, sophomore pitcher Fink and senior second baseman Mc Ilhany each earned Third Team accolades.
All four Titans garnered all-region honors for the first time. UW-Oshkosh's four all-region selections are the most for the program since four Titans were also tabbed in 2015.
Ritter, who has started all 32 games for UW-Oshkosh this season, paces the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a .491 batting average to go along with a team-leading 56 hits, 10 doubles, a .605 slugging percentage and a .512 on-base percentage while ranking second with 18 runs scored and 20 runs batted in. She has 20 multiple-hit performances on the year, including three 4-for-4 efforts. Currently on an 11-game hitting streak, Ritter hit her first collegiate home run and drove in a season-high four runs during a 10-2 victory over UW-Stevens Point on May 4.
Dillon is second on the squad with a .453 batting average, a .509 slugging percentage and a .473 on-base percentage. Dillon, who has appeared in 28 games this year, went a combined 5-for-7 at the plate during the season opening doubleheader at St. Norbert College on March 9 and has since added four more multiple-hit games while not committing an error in the outfield all year.
Fink is the ace of the Titans pitching staff, compiling a 14-3 record with a 2.54 earned run average, two saves and 83 strikeouts in 107.1 innings across 21 appearances. Fink, the WIAC leader with 11 complete games and three shutouts, has won each of her past five decisions. Fink began the season with a six-hit shutout with a career-high 11 strikeouts at St. Norbert College on March 9. Fink also tossed a one-hit, five-inning shutout at UW-Stout on April 30 and a four-hit shutout at UW-La Crosse on May 7 on the way to allowing three earned runs or fewer in 12 of her 15 starts.
Mc Ilhany is batting .352 this season with six doubles, one home run, 18 runs scored and 16 RBIs. A mainstay in the Titan lineup since 2017, Mc Ilhany has started all 32 games on the year and ranks 11th among all active Division III players with 164 career games played. Mc Ilhany had a season-best three hits on four occasions this year, including a 3-for-3 performance with a double, a home run and two RBIs at UW-Stevens Point on May 4. Mc Ilhany has played a pivotal role in the Titans ranking seventh nationally with a .977 fielding percentage, committing just two errors in 135 total chances.
UW-Oshkosh (22-10) clinched a share of the 2021 WIAC title – the program's fourth and first since 2007. The Titans, who reached 20 wins for the 17th consecutive full season, and fellow WIAC regular season co-champion UW-Whitewater begin a best-of-three series in Oshkosh on Saturday (May 15) for the league's automatic berth into the Division III Championship.