Titan Softball Coaches Named Regional Coaching Staff Of The Year
The UW-Oshkosh softball coaching staff was named the 2021 National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
Head coach Scott Beyer along with assistant coaches Alyssa Doomis and Kaitlyn Krol guided UW-Oshkosh this past season to a 29-13 record, a pair of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and a fifth-place finish at the Division III Championship.
UW-Oshkosh compiled a 10-4 WIAC record to share the league's regular season title with UW-Whitewater. The WIAC championship was the fourth for the Titans and first since 2007.
UW-Oshkosh earned the top seed for the WIAC's eight-team postseason tournament by virtue of its two-game sweep of UW-Whitewater during the regular season. The Titans opened the tournament with wins of 4-3 (10 innings) over UW-Stout and 3-1 over UW-Platteville before defeating UW-Whitewater, two games to one, in the best-of-three championship series. UW-Oshkosh posted a 4-0 win over UW-Whitewater in the third and deciding contest to capture its second WIAC postseason title and the league's automatic berth into the 48-team Division III Championship.
UW-Oshkosh began its ninth Division III postseason journey at the Eau Claire Regional. The Titans paraded through the regional unbeaten as they defeated Illinois College, 4-0, University of Southern Maine, 7-0, Linfield University (Ore.), 3-0, and Piedmont University, 6-1. UW-Oshkosh's victory over Piedmont University secured the program's second trip to the finals of the Division III Championship and first since 1988.
The Titans won two of their three games at the Division III Championship finals in Salem, Va., to finish in a tie for fifth place. UW-Oshkosh lost a 2-1 decision to top-ranked DePauw University (Ind.) in the opener before defeating Tufts University (Mass.), 7-1. The Titans concluded their season with a 2-1 loss to fifth-ranked Birmingham-Southern College (Ala.).
UW-Oshkosh's Maddie Fink was named the 2021 WIAC Pitcher of the Year. The Titans also had second baseman Amanda Mc Ilhany and catcher Hannah Ritter collect All-WIAC First Team recognition. Beyer, Doomis and Krol were named the conference's Coaching Staff of the Year.
UW-Oshkosh had four NFCA Division III All-Great Lakes Region selections as Ritter was voted to the Second Team and Fink, Mc Ilhany and outfielder Natalie Dillon to the Third.
Ritter was the lone Titan to receive NFCA Division III All-America honors. She was selected to the Third Team, becoming just the sixth player in program history to earn All-America recognition.
Beyer recently concluded his eighth season as UW-Oshkosh's head coach. He has led the Titans to a 195-94 record and three Division III postseason appearances. UW-Oshkosh compiled a 33-13 record in 2017 when it advanced to the Division III Super Regional in Angola, Ind.
In addition to UW-Oshkosh, other NFCA Division III Regional Coaching Staff of the Year selections were national champion Virginia Wesleyan University in the Atlantic, DePauw University in the Central, The College of New Jersey in the East, University of St. Thomas (Minn.) in the Midwest, Tufts University in the New England, University of Rochester (N.Y.) in the Northeast and Texas Lutheran University in the West.