Titans Softball Set for WIAC Tournament
OSHKOSH, Wis.—Carrying the No. 2-seed into the 2023 WIAC Tournament (Presented by Culver's), the UW-Oshkosh Titans (33-5, 10-4 WIAC) will compete for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Softball Tournament.
The Titans have made the conference tournament each of head coach Scott Beyer's years at the helm, including winning the tournament in 2021. The Titans have made the last 36 conference tournaments, including being the No. 2 seed or higher 13 times.
Action begins on May 11 at the van Steenderen Softball Complex on the campus of UW-Whitewater. The tournament will be held from May 11 to May 14 in a double-elimination format.
The Titans moved up one spot in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, landing at No. 21 this week after going 3-1 in competition last week.
Action kicks off on May 11 at 9 a.m. as the No. 4-seeded Pioneers of UW-Platteville (24-14, 7-7 WIAC) take on the No. 5-seeded Pointers of UW-Stevens Point (25-11, 7-7 WIAC) in the first game of the day. The second game of the day sees the No. 3-seeded Eagles of UW-La Crosse (24-13, 9-5 WIAC) face the Blugolds of UW-Eau Claire (17-17, 6-8 WIAC) at 11:30 a.m. The top-seeded and tournament hosts the UW-Whitewater Warhawks (25-9, 11-3 WIAC) face the winner of game one at 2 p.m. In the closing game of the day, the Titans will take on the winner of game two at 4:30 p.m.
Action continues of May 12 with four games starting at 9 a.m.
On May 13, the tournament continues with two games beginning at 10 a.m. The "if-needed" final game of the tournament is set for May 14 at 10 a.m.
Titans Against the Field
The Titans will face the winner of UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire. The Titans swept the Eagles to open league play in early April. It was the first sweep of the Eagles by the Titans in La Crosse since 2017. The Titans swept the Blugolds for the first time since the 2018 season.
The Titans swept the Pioneers in the last weekend of the regular season, including their 12th shutout of the season.
The Titans split the regular series against the Pointers as Gabby Buikema hit a home run in each of the games.
The only team to sweep the Titans this season were the Warhawks. The Warhawks were the only team to win this season on the Titans home field.
Titan Notes
The Titans have recorded 12 or more shutouts since the 2001 season three other times: 12-2008; 13-2006; 16-2007).
Senior pitcher Maddie Fink was named the WIAC x Kwik Trip Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time this season and tenth of her career.
Looking at the Stats
The Titans pitchers have the eighth best ERA in the nation, sitting at a combined 1.43. The Titans have the fifth best fielding percentage in the country, sitting at .978.
The Titans lead the WIAC in batting average (.325), hits (338), on-base percentage (.396), scoring (5.92), shutouts (12), and walks (115).
Hannah Ritter leads the team in batting average (.480) while leading the league in hits (59). Sophie Wery is one of three players in the league to have recorded nine home runs this season and leads the league in RBIs (41). Morgan Rau leads the league in walks (25).
In the pitcher's circle, Fink (16-2) has an ERA of 1.09, six shutouts, 5.22 strikeouts per seven innings and has allowed 4.59 hits per seven innings. Sydney Nemetz (14-2) has an ERA of 1.40, four shutouts, 6.07 strikeouts per seven innings, and has allowed 5.58 hits per seven innings.
The Titans pitchers have held their opponents to a batting average of .208.