MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois softball opens Summit League play and its home schedule this weekend against the South Dakota Coyotes... WIU and USD are slated to play a doubleheader on Saturday (March 25) beginning at 10 a.m. (time changed due to potential weather) before playing a single game on Sunday at 11 a.m. For updates on time changes or cancellations due to weather this weekend, follow @WIUSoftball on Twitter or follow Western Illinois Softball on Facebook.
SERIES HISTORY: The Leathernecks trail South Dakota in the all-time series 13-2... Western lost the first 11 games of the series and have since went 2-2 in the last four meetings... Last season in Vermillion the Coyotes won 2-of-3 games... If WIU can win the series this weekend it would be the program first series win over USD.
A LOOK AT THE COYOTES: South Dakota is 9-17 overall on the year and 2-5 in road contests... The Coyotes most recently played in Iowa's Tournament, finishing the weekend 2-3 with two wins over Creighton and losses to Northern Illinois, Valparaiso and Iowa... USD is led by Shelby Keil and Emily Winckler at the plate... Keil owns a team-best .367 batting average, a team-best .544 slugging percentage, has scored a team-high 17 runs, record eight doubles and two home runs... Winckler is hitting at a .306 clip, owns a .532 slugging percentage and leads the team in RBI (18) and home runs (3)... Ally Wiegand leads the Coyotes in the circle with a 2.58 ERA, a 5-5 record and 48 strikeouts... South Dakota is coaches by Robert WagnerÂ
LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois finished last week 0-6... The Leathernecks dropped a doubleheader at Murray State on March 15 before going winless in UT Martin's Skyhawk Invitational... Murray State topped WIU by scores of 2-1 and 5-1 in last week's doubleheader... On March 18, the opening day of the weekend invite Western lost to Samford 6-0 and UT-Martin 4-1... On day two, Samford came out on top 8-4 and the Skyhawks of UT Martin topped Western 4-3 in eight innings.
UP AHEAD: After Western Illinois opens Summit League play this weekend (March 25-26) when the South Dakota Coyotes come to town for three games, the Leathernecks open an eight-game road swing at Omaha with a doubleheader on April 1.
Â
IN THE NCAA: Individually, Nina Maggio ranks second in sacrifice hits per game (0.64)... Emily Ira ranks fifth in walks allowed per seven innings (0.64), 23rd in strikeouts (110) and 55th in strikeouts per seven innings (7.9)... Kelsey Marlow ranks 73rd in sacrifice lies (2)... Jasmine Lara ranks 77th nationally in sacrifice hits per game (0.22).
Â
IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: As a team, WIU ranks first in stolen bases (27), batting average against (.249)... Second in triples (6), sacrifice hits (24) and earned run average (3.27)... Third in walks (78) and shutouts (2)... Individually, Emily Ira ranks first in earned run average (2.14), second in strikeouts (110), complete games (13), strikeouts per game (7.86), batting average against (.218), and third in shutouts (1) and innings pitched (98.0)... Holly Hoelting ranks fifth in walks (14)... Kelsey Marlow ranks first in triples (2), second in steals (8) and third in sacrifices flies (2)... Rachael Beatty ranks second in stolen bases (8) and fourth in walks (16).
 Â
2016 SEASON RECAP: Western finished third overall in The Summit League regular season a year ago with a 9-8 record in conference play (16-32 overall). The Leathernecks won their final five games of the season and earned the No. 3 seed in the league championship before falling to IUPUI in the first round. As a team, the Leathernecks batted .263 with 160 runs scored off of 332 hits.
Â
PRESEASON POLL: Following its best finish since 2010, the Western Illinois softball team was picked to finish third overall in the 2017 Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll. North Dakota State was projected as the preseason favorite with 36 points (six first-place votes), followed by Omaha with 27 (one first-place vote). The Leathernecks garnered 25 points, while South Dakota was picked to finish fourth with 23. South Dakota State (19), IUPUI (11) and Fort Wayne (5) rounded out the poll.
Â
NEWCOMERS: Western Illinois adds five freshmen to their 2017 roster in Meghan Henson (Munster, Ind. / Marian Catholic), Halle Hollatz (Lockpork, Ill. / Lockport), Sydney Hollings (Normal, Ill. / Normal Community West), Brittanee Knepper (Blackwell, Okla. / Blackwell) and Jasmine Lara (Bettendorf, Iowa / Pleasant Valley).
Â
RETURNERS: The Leathernecks return 15 players from a year ago, including two Second-Team All-Summit League selections in senior Nina Maggio and sophomore Emily Ira. The latter was also tabbed to the preseason 'Players to Watch' list after compiling 136 strikeouts during her freshman campaign. She struck out a career-high 12 batters at South Dakota and recorded Western's first no-hitter since 2010 against Canisius. Kelsey Marlow returns as Western's leader in batting average (.320) from a season ago. The junior compiled 23 RBI, 47 hits, 10 doubles and led The Summit League with four triples. Rachel Beatty led the team with a .333 batting average during league play and led the team with six home runs. |
