Softball Preview: Blue Devils host Pointers, Titans for Alumni Weekend

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (10-18, 2-6 WIAC) had the school week off, but return to conference play this weekend when they host UW-Stevens Point (11-18, 1-5 WIAC), Saturday, April 18 at 1 p.m. and UW-Oshkosh (20-8, 6-2 WIAC), Sunday, April 19 at noon. On Saturday, the Blue Devils will also honor the 2005 team that captured the WIAC tournament title.

UW-STOUT: The Blue Devils are coming off a 2014 campaign that featured 27 wins, which were the most since the 2004 season. The 2015 roster includes two seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and seven freshmen - and is led by junior Tori Workman who claimed WIAC Pitcher of the Year recognition a year ago. She set the school single-season strikeout record with her final pitch of the season and led the conference with a 1.63 earned run average, 160 strikeouts and 176.1 innings pitched. Head coach Chris Stainer, the WIAC coach of the year last season, recently earned her 300th career victory. In a preseason poll, the Blue Devils were picked to finish second in the WIAC.

Tori Workman (8-9) leads the Blue Devils from the circle and has been doing the job at the plate. Workman has tossed 111.2 innings so far this season, starting 17 games and making 23 appearances with an ERA of 3.01 and a conference-leading 107 strikeouts. Only UW-Superior's Sarah Hendrickson is close to as many innings pitched as Workman. Hendrickson has so far thrown 111.0 innings. When Workman is not pitching, she can be found in center field. At the plate, Workman is hitting .319 (30-94) with a team-best 20 runs batted in, tallying 10 doubles - second in the league - two triples and two home run. Rachel Thomas has pushed her batting average to over .323, (21-65). Taylor Workman, the team's designated player who has also played some first base, has been edging her batting average upwards the last seven games. Workman is hitting .345 (29-86), best among all starters. She currently has 14 RBI and is tied with her sister, Tori, with two home runs..Sara Griesbach and Liz Seipel have moved above .300, with Griesbach hitting .320 (24-75) with 14 RBI and Seipel hitting at 304 (14-46). Among starters, Nicole Rogers is hitting .257 (18-70). Rogers plays center field when Workman is pitching and slides over to right field when Workman is not throwing. The Blue Devils' young pitchers have been thrown into the mix. Beth Wood picked up her first collegiate win, coming on in relief of Tori Workman against UW-Platteville Sunday. Wood had thrown 49.2 innings and has made 18 appearances, with eight starts. Abbey Ball has appeared in seven games and is 1-0 with an ERA of 3.82. 

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: After getting blanked in three consecutive conference games, the Blue Devils broke into the conference win column with a 9-7, 6-4 sweep over UW-Platteville Sunday.

2005 BLUE DEVILS: The 2005 Blue Devil team went 25-21 overall and finished conference play at 9-7, earning the third seed in the WIAC tournament held at UW-Whitewater. Stout opened the tournament by rolling over UW-River Falls, 8-0, then edged UW-Oshkosh, 5-4, on Jackie Juan's three-run home run in the third inning. Juan hit a three-run shot against top-seeded Eau Claire in the next game, but got dropped into the loser's bracket with a 9-5 loss. Erin O'Connell gave Stout their only run, a solo blast in the sixth inning in a 1-0 win over UW-Stevens Point, setting up a rematch with Eau Claire. Juan lifted the Blue Devils to a 6-2 win with another three-run blast, this one coming in the third inning and Megan Donley held off the Blugolds, forcing a second championship game. Catcher Jamie Gorges would provide a good deal of the offense in this game, driving in a run in the second inning and two runs in three-run fourth inning as Stout captured their first tournament title with a 4-1 win. Juan, a freshman, had quite a tournament, hitting four home runs, three times hitting three-run shots and finished the tournament with 13 RBI, more than half of her season total of 25 RBI.

Team members included: Krisha Miller, Fr, Menomonie; Beth Lloyd, Fr, Fond du Lac; Kaela Wold, Sr, Altoona; Sarah Lafata, Fr, Roselle, Ill; Megan Donley, Jr, Fridley, Minn; Emily Koga, Fr, Appleton; Maureen McQuillan, Fr, Boyd; Melissa Coon, Jr, Cudahy; Maureen Smith, Fr, Eden Prairie, Minn; Nikki Ellenbecker, Fr, Athens; Heather Novalany, Sr, Cottage Grove, Minn; Ande Schrader, Fr, Eau Claire; Justine Lehman, So, Luck; Savanah Oeltjen, Fr, Spring Valley, Minn; Marley Isaacson, Fr, Mondovi; Jamie Gorges, Sr, New London; Jackie Juan, Fr, La Crosse; Kara Martyn, Fr, Edgar; Erin O'Connell, Sr, Altoona; Courtney Zafft, Jr, Rochester, Minn. Head coach: Chris Stainer; Assistant coaches: Mike Bird, Sara Jensen-Anger, Alyssa Winger.

Post-Season Honors: Erin O'Connell and Kaela Wold were 2005 first team all-conference selections, and Heather Novalany was an honorable mention choice. For Wold, it was her fourth first team selection. For O'Connell, it was her third first team selection. Donley finished her pitching career as a two-time honorable mention selection, once as a first team and earned the Judy Kruckmann Scholar-Athlete Award. Jamie Gorges was an honorable mention selection as a junior. Jackie Juan earned first team all-conference honors in 2006 and Beth Lloyd was a first team pick in 2007. Courtney Zafft was an honorable mention selection in 2006 and Savanah Oeltjen in 2008.

UW-STEVENS POINT: Ashley Steltenpohl begins her first season at the helm of UW-Stevens Point with a roster that includes three seniors, three juniors, six sophomores and five freshman.  Steltenpohl is the 12th head coach in program history and spent the previous four seasons as the head coach at Marian University (Wis.) after serving as an assistant coach for the Pointers.  Seniors Jordon Schreiner and Sam Raddant tied for the team lead with 19 runs scored a season ago, while Schreiner was second with 19 RBI. 

Jordon Schreiner has a batting average of .378 (34-90) with a team-best 19 RBI and four home runs. Jodi Vanderford has been making the most of her starts, posting an average of .400 (12-30) and has 11 RBI.  Ballie Sheahn is hitting .329 (25-76). Sam Raddant has stolen eight bases in nine attempts. Paige Allen has hit a team-best five home runs and is hitting .292 (26-89). Sydney Gorges has made 19 appearances with 13 starts and has an ERA of 4.05 with 41 striketouts in 93.1 innings. Miranda Morrison has made 12 starts, has an ERA of 4.47 with 49 striketouts in 67.1 innings. Bre Ellison has come on 15 times and has recorded 20 strikeouts over 32.2 innings. Earlier in the season, the Pointers handed then fifth ranked Luther College their first loss of the season.

POINTERS LAST TIME OUT: Stevens Point got out to first-inning leads in both games, on its way to a doubleheader sweep of St. Norbert by scores of 8-7 and 5-1 on Thursday afternoon in DePere.  In game one, the Pointers scored the game's first eight runs over the first two and a half innings and withstood a St. Norbert rally. As in the opener, Stevens Point jumped out to an early lead in its first at bat, scoring three times in the first and Sydney Gorges took care of the rest. The sophomore came within one batter of her second shutout of the season, as the only run she conceded was a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. 

LAST YEAR WHEN THEY MET: The teams met last year at the Woodside Sports Complex in Mauston, with the Blue Devils taking a 6-0, 5-1, sweep. 

UW-OSHKOSH:  UW-Oshkosh returns five players who started at least 32 games in the field last season, including senior Katie Koepsel and juniors Haley Bayreuther and Hayden Krueger - a trio that started all 34 contests.  Koepsel set a WIAC record with 20 doubles in 2014, while hitting .418 with seven home runs and 43 RBI.  She has started 101 of the 109 games that she has played the last three seasons.  Krueger hit .413 a year ago with six home runs, 10 doubles and 33 RBI, while Bayreuther contributed a .370 batting average and league-leading four triples.  The Titans have posted a winning record in each of the last 11 years.

Koepsel leads the WIAC in average, hitting .494 (41-83) with 28 RBI, six doubles, a triple and eight home runs. Koepsel has only struck out once (before April 18) and has a healthy slugging percentage of .880. Hayle Bayreuther is hitting .377 (29-77) with six home runs. Lindsey Luedke has five home runs with a batting average of .348 (8-23) and Hayden Krueger has four home runs with a batting average of .345 (29-84). In the circle, Sara Brunlieb is 12-3 overall, with an ERA of 2.51 and 59 strikeouts in 92.0 innings pitched. Clare Robbe has an 8-5 record with and ERA of 2.81 with 46 strikeouts in 82.1 innings.

TITANS LAST TIME OUT: The Titans split a pair of games with UW-Whitewater Wednesday, April 15, losing the first, 2-0, but bouncing back to take a 6-4 win behind Clare Robbe. The Titans are scheduled at UW-River Falls, Saturday, April 18 for a 2:30 p.m. contest. 

LAST YEAR WHEN THEY MET: After several tries, the teams did not meet in the regular season last year due to weather and the games were cancelled. But the teams met in the second round of the WIAC tournament where Stout ended the Titans' season with a 5-4 win. The game was a gutsy performance by Blue Devil pitchers Sara Mueller and Nicole Rogers. Neither had thrown much during the season, but were pressed into action when ace pitcher Tori Workman was lost for the season due to injury. 


BLUE DEVILS LAST SEASON: The Blue Devils are coming off a 2014 campaign that featured 27 wins, which were the most since the 2004 season. The 2015 roster includes two seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and seven freshmen - and is led by junior Tori Workman who claimed WIAC Pitcher of the Year recognition a year ago. She set the school single-season strikeout record with her final pitch of the season and led the conference with a 1.63 earned run average, 160 strikeouts and 176.1 innings pitched. Head coach Chris Stainer, the WIAC coach of the year last season, recently earned her 300th career victory.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Tori Workman was the WIAC pitcher of the week after her first six games this season. Last season, Workman was the WIAC Pitcher of the Year and an all-region pick. Lynzi Knudtson was a WIAC honorable mention selection

2015 TEAM CAPTAINS: Team captains for the 2015 season are seniors Lynzi Knudtson and Taylor Workman and juniors Tori Workman and Nicole Rogers.

COACHES: Blue Devil coach Chris Stainer (306-388, overall; 288-363 at UW-Stout) is in her 17th season at Stout and her 18th season overall. UW-Stevens Point: Ashley Steltenpohl is in her first year at UW-Stevens Point after four years as the head coach at Marian University. She played her collegiate ball at UW-Oshkosh. UW-Oshkosh: The Titans are coached by Scott Beyer, who is in his second season with the Titans.

ON DECK: The Blue Devils will be at UW-River Falls, Wednesday, April 22, at 4 p.m. and at UW-Superior, Saturday, April 25, at 1 p.m., then return home for a non-conference contest with Gustavus Adolphus, Sunday, April 26, at 1 p.m.