|
|
|
|
Gustavus
Gusties
21-1 MIAC
33-5 Overall
|
St. Thomas
Tommies
20-2 MIAC
36-4Overall
|
Hamline
Pipers
18-4 MIAC
27-9 Overall |
Bethel
Royals
14-8 MIAC
23-17 Overall |
MIAC Tournament Homepage
TOURNAMENT FACTS:
Dates: Friday and Saturday, May 1-2 (Sunday is the rain day)
Location: Saint Mary’s University Field / Winona Cotter Field (Friday only), Winona, Minn.
Tournament Schedule:
Friday, May 1
Game 1: #1 Gustavus vs. #4 Bethel, 3 p.m. (at SMU)
Game 2: #2 St. Thomas vs. #3 Hamline, 3 p.m. (at Cotter)
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 5 p.m. (at SMU)
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 5 p.m. (at Cotter)
Saturday, May 2
(All Games Played At SMU)
Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 11 a.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, 1:30 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 4 p.m. (if necessary)
VS. THE FIELD
Gustavus: 5-1 (5-1, 6-0 wins vs. Bethel; 5-0, 2-1 wins vs. Hamline; 3-1 win, 4-3 loss vs. St. Thomas)
St. Thomas: 5-1 (5-0, 8-1 wins vs. Bethel; 7-0, 9-4 wins vs. Hamline, 4-3 win, 3-1 loss vs. Gustavus)
Hamline: 2-4 (5-1, 4-3 wins vs. Bethel; 5-0, 2-1 losses vs. Gustavus; 7-0, 9-4 losses vs. St. Thomas)
Bethel: 0-6 (5-1, 4-3 losses vs. Hamline; 5-1, 6-0 losses vs. Gustavus; 5-0, 8-1 losses vs. St. Thomas)
A YEAR AGO: Maria Bye threw a four-hit shutout and ran her scoreless streak to 40 innings and Alison Wright had a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to lift top-seeded St. Thomas past Hamline
1-0 in the championship game of the MIAC Tournament in Shoreview, Minn., and earning UST its 11th NCAA Division III National Championships berth in the last 12 years. The Tommies improved to 15-0 all-time in conference tournament games and capped their second consecutive 25-0 run vs. conference teams. In the national tournament, St. Thomas opened with back-to-back wins over Ripon (
8-0) and Simpson (
4-1) , but then fell to eventual national champion UW-Eau Claire
5-4, and was eliminated by UW-Oshkosh
4-0.
GUSTAVUS GUSTIE NOTES: The Gusties come into the MIAC Tournament having won a school-record 33 games, a feat accomplished with a regular season-ending 9-1 win over St. Scholastica on Monday. The 33 wins are one more than the previous school mark of 32 set in 2007. … The No. 1-seeded Gusties — currently ranked No. 21 in the latest NFCA Top 25 — earned their third regular-season conference crown, going 21-1 in league play. … Gustavus is one of only two teams to have qualified for the MIAC Tournament every year since its inception in 2004 (St. Thomas is the other). The Gusties, who have compiled an all-time tournament record of 4-10, advanced to the championship game in 2006, where they lost to St. Thomas 2-0. … … Gustavus head coach Jeff Annis has directed the Gusties to 30 wins in each of his four seasons directing the program. His career record is an impressive 126-32, which is a .797 winning percentage. … GAC shut out nine of its 11 MIAC foes at least once, with the exceptions being St. Thomas (3-1 win, 4-3 loss) and St. Catherine (14-3 and 5-1 wins). The Gusties outscored their MIAC opponents 156-23 en route to compiling their 21-1 record and league-high 11 shutouts. … Gustie pitchers led the league in with a 0.99 earned run average, tied for first in defense with a .974 fielding percentage, and finished second in hitting with a team average of .354. … Rachael Click, who finished second in the MIAC in hitting last year by .001 with a .563 average, won the 2009 MIAC batting title with a .529 average. She also finished first in slugging percentage (1.216), on-base percentage (.594), RBIs (27), home runs (10), total bases (62), and walks (11). Click also set the school record for home runs in a season with 12 and became only the third player in MIAC history to hit 30 home runs (31) in a career. … The 2009 Gustavus softball team is attempting to become the most prolific offensive team in the history of the program. The Gusties are on pace to break the record for highest team batting average at .364 (the old mark is .348 in 2008), and they have already broken the single-season marks for runs with 272 (the old mark was 268 in 2007) and hits with 368 (the old mark was 356 in 2007). The team currently ranks fourth in Division III in slugging percentage (.586), eighth in triples per game (0.58) and home runs per game (0.92), and 12th in batting average (.364). … The Gusties are the only team in Division III to have three pitchers with double-digit victories, as Erin Truebenbach is 12-2, Callie Nelsen is 11-1 and Betsie Collins is 10-2. The trio has compiled a team ERA of 1.30 — including that league-leading 0.99 ERA in 22 conference games — while also combining for a school-record 259 strikeouts.
ST. THOMAS TOMMIE NOTES: With their 5-1 performance in the conference’s final week, the Tommies reached 20 regular-season MIAC wins for the 10th straight year. At 36-4 overall, St. Thomas secured its 13th consecutive 30-win season and has surpassed 300 runs for the sixth year in a row. … UST enters the weekend as the tournament’s No. 2 seed and is currently ranked No. 8 in the latest NFCA Top 25. … The Tommies’ second-place regular-season finish ended a five-year reign as the conference’s regular-season champion. … UST is 15-0 all-time in the five-year history of the MIAC tourney, but finds itself the second seed for the first time. … Alison Wright went 13-for-21 at the plate with eight RBIs during UST’s final six games and now has 24 multi-hit games. She hit her 21st career home run in UST’s season finale vs. Saint Mary’s. With 68 hits, she has an outside shot at matching the MIAC season record of 80 hits, set by UST’s Carrie Embree in 2006. Wright also has 189 career hits, 50 away from Michelle Wong’s conference career record of 239. … Steph Moores enters the MIAC Tournament riding a nine-game hitting streak. Moores' three-run homer with two out in the third inning fueled UST’s 4-3 Game 2 win vs. Gustavus and helped the Tommies avoid their first sweep in six seasons, while also handing the Gusties their lone defeat in 22 MIAC games. … Moores has 45 RBIs in 40 games to rank among the MIAC leaders and also has 16 multi-hit games. Defensively, she has just one error in 148 defensive chances. … In nine seasons under Coach John Tschida, St. Thomas is 178-8 in April games. St. Thomas is 42-1 on campus since April 2005 and also has a 33-game win streak in the Rosemount Dome. … The Tommies are 1-3 this season when they allow a grand slam or three-run homer, and 35-1 in all other games. They have led in 38 of 40 games, and have just three losses to Division III teams, including splits with Gustavus and Saint Benedict, and an extra-inning loss to No. 3-ranked Linfield. … St. Thomas is batting .408 as a team with eight starters at .370 or better. … Missy Bruggeman leads the team in batting at .525, while All-American Kaitlyn Wightman has scored a team-best 55 runs in 40 games. … Marta Radcliffe enters the tournament with a 19-4 record and a 1.82 ERA. Over her last two seasons, Radcliffe is 38-7 with 317 strikeouts in 255 innings.
HAMLINE PIPER NOTES: This year's playoff appearance marks the third straight for the Pipers, who have also made appearances in five of the six MIAC Tournaments. … The Pipers are led by Jourdan Ulrich, who holds the Hamline school record in stolen bases at 83 — nearly double the previous school steals record of 44. She has gone 21-for-23 on the base paths this season. Ulrich continues her assault on the Piper record book in several other categories as well, including games played (149 / fifth), games started (146 / fifth), at-bats (104 / fifth), sacrifices (18 / second). … Ulrich has played all 22 conference games in center field, boasting a .994 fielding percentage. … Sophie Davidson leads the team with a .392 batting average, while also driving in 23 runs from the lead-off spot. She also boasts nine extra-base hits, including five doubles, a triple and a team-best three home runs. … Erin Farley leads the Pipers in RBIs (27), while she and fellow sophomore Heidi Larsen lead the team n doubles with eight. … Ashley Anderberg has packed a punch at the plate as of late, driving in 13 of her 25 RBIs in the last eight MIAC games. She has hit .440 during that eight-game stretch, and enters the post season with a pair of home runs. … Jessalyn Weaver has fueled the Piper pitching staff, compiling a 2.27 ERA, while posting a 16-5 overall record. Of her 19 games started, 18 were complete games. She was nearly unstoppable on the rubber for the Pipers in conference play, posting 12-2 record — with 12 complete games — and a 1.83 ERA. She struck out 60 conference opponents in 84.0 innings pitched and gave up just 23 walks. Weaver’s only two losses in conference play came against Gustavus and St. Thomas. Of her three non-conference losses, two were to Linfield and Tufts — both teams ranked in the NFCA’s top five.
BETHEL ROYAL NOTES: Bethel set school records for overall and conference wins in a season, closing out the regular season at 23-17 overall and 14-8 in conference play. … The Royals are making their first-ever conference tournament appearance. … Kelly Berg belted nine home runs this season and currently holds the school record for HRs in a season (9) and in a career (12). … As a team, the Royals have hit 16 home runs — two more than they hit in the five seasons from 2002-2006 combined. … Berg also leads the team in virtually every other offensive category, including batting average (.430), runs (31), hits (49), total bases (90), and slugging percentage (.789). … Ashley Lindberg, who is second on the team with a .370 batting average, has belted a team-best 11 doubles, while Lauren Habisch, one of just three Bethel players to start all 40 games — Lisa Patnode and Tonia Erickson are the other two — has driven in a team-high 29 runs, while hitting 15 extra-base hits (5 doubles, 5 triples, 5 home runs). … Rebecca Akerson’s 89 strikeouts rank her No. 3 in Bethel’s single-season record book. She fanned a season-high 13 batters against St. Olaf on April 22. Akerson, who has thrown 111.1 innings, also boasts a single-season school-record 1.38 ERA. The team’s 2.46 ERA is also a single-season record. … Bethel finished the season 9-3 at home and 14-14 on the road.