Softball Set for Summit League Championships

Westerns takes on IUPUI in the opening round on Wednesday

#WIUGAMEDAY INFORMATION

The Summit League Championship
Opening Round
No. 3 Western Illinois (16-31, 9-8 Summit)
vs.
No. 6 IUPUI (17-33, 4-12 Summit)

WHEN AND WHERE:
Wednesday, May 11, 5:30 p.m.
Fargo, North Dakota
Ellig Sports Complex
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WIU 2016 STATS:
HERE

IUPUI: Stats | Website

COVERAGE

WATCH: HERE
LISTEN: ONLINE & RADIO
FOLLOW: Live Stats

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER:
@WIUSoftball
@WIUAthletics

FACEBOOK:
Western Illinois University Softball
Western Illinois Athletics

INSTAGRAM:
Western Illinois Athletics

PRESEASON INFORMATION

2016 Preseason Quick Facts (.PDF)
2016 Preseason Record Book (.PDF)
2016 Schedule Release
2 016 Preseason Video

MACOMB, Ill. – The Western Illinois softball team is set for the postseason as the Leathernecks take on IUPUI in the opening round of The Summit League Championship. Western secured the No. 3 seed after posting a 9-8 league record (16-31 overall) while the Jaguars went 4-12 in league play (17-33 overall) to claim the No. 6 seed. The opening round is set to take place at 5:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, May 11 at the Ellig Sports Complex in Fargo, North Dakota.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans can follow @WIUSoftball and @summitchamps on Twitter for updates and live tweets throughout the championship. For more information on the championships, including the tournament bracket, click HERE. Live stats, radio and a free video stream will also be available.

CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY: Western owns a 38-32 all-time record at The Summit League Championships... This is the program's 21^st appearance in the league tournament and they are in search of their first league title since the 2008 season... The Leathernecks have won four Summit League Championship titles (1993, 2000, 2001 and 2008)… Last season, WIU earned a No. 4 seed and fell to South Dakota State by a score of 7-6 in the opening round.

FINISH STRONG: The Leathernecks finished league play with five straight wins and two series sweeps to earn the No. 3 seed… The finish is the highest regular season finish since the 2010 season… Western was picked to finish sixth overall in the preseason poll... Seven Leathernecks starters ended league play with a batting average over .300… Rachel Beatty came alive at the plate as 18 of her 22 RBIs and five of her six home runs came in league games… Her .333 batting average during 17 league games leads the team.

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS: Ali Moser leads the Jaguars with a .329 batting average, 13 doubles, 24 RBIs, 11 home runs, and 35 runs scored… Taylor Chitwood has driven in 37 runs off of 46 hits, including 14 doubles and eight home runs… IUPUI has a solid pitching staff made up of Brooke Boetjer (9-13) and Kaitlynn Moody (5-10)… Boetjer holds an ERA of 3.72 over 159 innings… Moody has an ERA of 4.45.

SERIES HISTORY: Western has taken 49 of the 63 meetings between the two teams… The Leathernecks swept a doubleheader over the Jaguars this season on April 29… Western battled and took a 3-2 win over IUPUI in 12 innings in game one… Rachel Beatty went 4-for-5 with a home run, an RBI double and a single… Amanda Manton scored the game-winning run following a sacrifice fly from Tierney Bottino… Western took game two 4-1… Hailey Duwa hit a two-run triple… Kacyee Hart pitched a complete seven innings and only gave up one earned run and six hits... The third game of the series was cancelled due to weather.

BEATTY HONORED BY LEAGUE: Rachel Beatty earned Summit League 'Player of the Week' for the first time in her career on May 9 for her performance against Fort Wayne over the weekend… Beatty produced at a .444 clip for the weekend (4-for-9) with a slugging percentage of 1.222. She drove in nine runs with two home runs over three games and scored five times. On the field, she recorded a perfect fielding percentage with an outfield assist… In game two of WIU's series against the Mastodons, she drove in a career-high five runs which ties for ninth all-time in program history for RBIs in a single game.

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Players Mentioned

#14 Rachel Beatty: OF; 5' 5"; Sophomore; L/L

#27 Tierney Bottino: OF; 5' 2"; Senior; R/R

#7 Kacyee Hart: P; 5' 8"; Senior; R/R

#5 Hailey Duwa: IF; 5' 10"; Freshman; L/R

#22 Amanda Manton: C; 5' 5"; Junior; L/R

Players Mentioned

#14 Rachel Beatty
: 5' 5"; Sophomore; L/L
: OF

#27 Tierney Bottino
: 5' 2"; Senior; R/R
: OF

#7 Kacyee Hart
: 5' 8"; Senior; R/R
: P

#5 Hailey Duwa
: 5' 10"; Freshman; L/R
: IF

#22 Amanda Manton
: 5' 5"; Junior; L/R
: C