WAVERLY, Iowa --- No. 23 softball will host a four-team regional on Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16 to begin the NCAA Division III softball championships. This is Wartburg's fifth-straight season making the tournament and the first time hosting their own regional since 2003.
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The Knights will begin double-elimination tournament play on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. against Illinois Wesleyan University at Lynes Field.
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Regional Seeds (National Ranks – NFCA/NPI)
- University of Redlands – NFCA Poll: No. 2, NPI: No. 9
- Wartburg College – NFCA Poll: No. 23, NPI: No. 18
- Illinois Wesleyan University - NPI: No. 43
- Dominican University – NPI: No. 101
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Tournament Schedule – Live Stream | Live Stats (all games)
Thursday, May 14:
Game 1: Redlands vs Dominican (IL) @ 11 AM
Game 2: Wartburg vs Illinois Wesleyan @ 1:30 PM
Friday, May 15:Â
Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs Game 2 Winner @ 11 AM
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs Game 2 Loser @ 1:30 PM
Game 5: Game 4 Winner vs Game 3 Loser @ 4 PM
Saturday, May 16:Â
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs Game 5 Winner @ 11 AM
Game 7: Game 6 Winner vs Game 6 Loser (if necessary game) @ 1:30 PM
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Series History
- Illinois Wesleyan
- Wartburg went 2-0 during the regular season against Illinois Wesleyan
- Defeated IWU on the road on March 28 and 29 (2-1, 10-7)
- IWU leads the all-time series 6-3
- These teams are 1-1 in NCAA tournament matchups
- First matchup in Waverly between these programs
- Redlands
- Redlands is 2-0 all-time against Wartburg
- Both matchups were last season
- This is the second-straight season these teams were paired in the same regional
- First matchup in Waverly between these programs
- Redlands has scored 21 runs through two games against Wartburg
- Dominican
- Wartburg is 2-0 all-time against Dominican
- First matchup in Waverly between these programs
- The Knights are outscoring Dominican 14-3 between the two matchups
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Wartburg's NCAA Tournament History
- 14th overall appearance
- Fifth-straight season making the tournament
- First time hosting a regional since 2003
- The Knights are 30-27 overall in NCAA Tournament play
- Wartburg's last super regional appearance came in 2022
- The Knights have one CWS appearance (2003) in program history
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Updating the Record Books
- New team record for walks in a season
- 137 walks (previous record 134, 2022)
- New team record for steals in a season
- 165 steals (previous record 162, 2022)
- Individual steals in a career
- Individual saves in a season
- Hannah Hoefer has two saves this season (tied for eighth all-time)
- Individual steals in a season
- Hassel is tied for sixth with 31 stolen bases this season
- Bredar is tied for ninth with 27
- Individual hit by pitch in a season
- Happ is third in program history with 15 this season
- Individual hits in a season
- Hassel is tied with two others for ninth most hits in a season in program history (56)
- Individual doubles in a season
- Bella Mulder is tied for sixth with 13
- Hassel is tied for eighth with 12
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Wartburg
- The Knights enter NCAA Regional play with an overall record of 31-10
- 10-3 at home this season
- Has won 14 of its last 16 games played
- One of four American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) teams to qualify for the Division III Championships
- Wartburg is averaging 7.78 runs per game this season and 9.53 hits per game
- Wartburg has a top-ten scoring offense in all of Division III (ninth)
- 28-3 record this season when scoring five or more runs in a game this season
- 3-7 when scoring four or less runs
- Seven Knights have recorded 20+ RBI this season:
- In the circle, two first-year Knights lead the team in wins with Hoefer at 13-4 and Klever at 12-4
- Jillian Panther (3-1) and Lauren Dyer (3-1) each have added multiple wins
- Hoefer (two), Klever (one) and Dyer (one) make up Wartburg's four saves this season
- Wartburg is 165/178 in stolen base attempts through 41 games played
- The Knights are seventh overall in Division III in total stolen bases and in stolen bases per game
- Hassel (31), Bredar (27), Ally Happ (25), and Liz Kruckenberg (23) lead the team
- New single-season team record for steals at Wartburg (165 and counting)
- Leaders by category: Total hits – Hassel (56), 2B – Mulder (13), 3B – Larson and Kruckenberg (three), HR – Mulder (eight)
- Defensively, Wartburg has turned 19 double plays this season, which ranks 12th in all of Division III
- Seven different Knights enter A-R-C play with a batting average over .300 and one player over .400
- Bredar leads the team individually (.403)
- Happ is currently 10th in Division III in hit by pitches this season with 15
- Has accounted for 15 of Wartburg's 21 hit by pitches this season
- Seven different players have recorded four or more RBI in a game this season (Stephanie Kiefer, Hassel, Wiebenga, Larson, Mulder, Wells and Klever) and three different players have recorded four hits in a game this season (Hassel, Klever and Wiebenga)
- Both Mulder and Wiebenga have recorded five or more RBI in a game this season
- Wiebenga has four games this season with four or more RBI
- Hassel has two four-hit games this season
- Hoefer (61) and Klever (58) lead the team in batters struck out
- Have nine complete games between them
- Panther leads the Wartburg pitching staff with an ERA of 1.80 through 23.1 innings pitched
- Klever leads starting pitchers with an ERA of 3.81 over 93.2 innings pitched
- The Knights have recorded eight or more hits 27 total times this season
- 21-6 record in those games
- Wartburg has recorded at least one extra-base hit in 39/41 games this season
- Nine different Knights have hit one home run or more this season and six of them have hit three or more this season
