WAVERLY, Iowa-- The Wartburg softball team (26-11 overall) received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and will face UW-Eau Claire (26-11-1), Thursday, May 9 at 2 p.m.

This regional will be hosted by No. 3 St. Thomas. The other teams in this pod are host-St. Thomas and Northwestern-St. Paul.

This marks the ninth overall and first appearance since 2009 in the NCAA Tournament for the Knights. Click here for a feature story from the Waterloo Courier.

Click here for the complete bracket.
Click here for the tournament program.

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Tournament Schedule
Click here for the regional bracket
Thursday, May 9
2 p.m.    UW-Eau Claire  2, Wartburg 1
4:30 p.m. No. 3 St. Thomas 9 vs. Northwestern 0 (5 innings)

Friday, May 10
Game 3       Noon      UW-Eau Claire vs. No. 3 St. Thomas
Game 4       2:30 p.m. Wartburg vs. Northwestern
Game 5       5 p.m.   Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3

Saturday, May 11
Noon          Game 6         Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
2:30 p.m.    Game 7 (if necessary) Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6
*Gates open 60 minutes prior to first game of the day

Tickets
Single Session Tickets (good for all games played that day)
Adult: $10
Senior Citizen/Veteran: $8
Student: $7
Child (under 12 years): $5
Child (under 2 years): Free

The Series
The Blugolds lead the all-time series at 2-1, but the Knights won the most recent meeting, 8-0, on March 21, 2004.

In the NCAA Tournament
Wartburg is 23-17 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

Wartburg
Senior Kailee O'Brien (Altoona) leads the team with her .423 average. Freshman Sydney Illg (Grimes) follows at .403 and senior Liz Roby-Miklus (Ankeny) rounds out the leading hitters at .400.

Roby-Miklus has a team-best 51 stolen bases and Illg has a team-high 40 RBIs. Freshman Olivia Brecht (Center Point) leads the team with 14 doubles.

Sophomore Maddie Rog (Norridge, Ill.) leads the starting pitchers with a 2.83 ERA and has a team-best 61 strikeouts.

Career Record Watch
Roby-Miklus continues to extend her lead as the program leader in stolen bases and has 115 to date. She also ranks tied for fourth in runs (114), and ninth in hits (148). O'Brien ranks third in stolen bases with 57, and is fourth in hits with 176.

Reicks is the all-time leader with 10 saves.

Single Season Record Watch
Reicks' five saves ties her own mark at first on the single season leader list. Roby-Miklus set the record in stolen bases (51), while Illg is fifth (25) and O'Brien is sixth (21).

Brecht is tied for fourth in doubles (14) and Illg is ninth in RBIs (40).

As a team, the Knights have set the record in on-base percentage (.423), stolen bases (156), saves (8)

UW-Eau Claire
The Blugolds also received an at-large bid.

Abbey Place is her team's leading hitter at .333. and Mikayla McEnery follos at .321. The pitching duties are split between Sarah Peka and Cheyenne Johnson. Peka has a 1.71 ERA in 119 innings pitched and Johnson owns a 1.83 ERA in 91.2 innings of work.

National Stat Rankings
The Knights rank in the top 100 of seven categories.

The Orange and Black are: second in stolen bases/game (4.22), 20th in on-base percentage (.423) and batting average (.350), 24th in scoring (6.78), 44th in slugging percentage (.480), 58th in win/loss percentage (.703), and in home runs/game (.57).

Individually, seven players rank in the top 100.

Brecht is 90th in doubles/game (.38)

Illg is 45th in RBIs/game (1.11), 49th in stolen bases/game  (0.65) and 58th in RBIs (41).

Levine is 64th in RBIs/game (1.06) and O'Brien is 75th in stolen bases/game (.56). Roby-Miklus leads the country in stolen bases/game (1.11), and is 45th in runs/game (1.11)

Reicks leads the nation in saves (5) and freshman Madison Hiestand (Plainfield, Ill.) is 50th in saves (2). Rog is 91st in wins (13).