Softball Preview: Blue Devils open conference tourney with Whitewater

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (17-19, 6-8 WIAC) concluded the regular season and earned the fifth seed in the WIAC Softball Championship May 6-8 at UW-Eau Claire. The Blue Devils will open the tournament at Carson Park at 10 a.m. against UW-Whitewater (24-12, 8-5 WIAC). A win and the Blue Devils will play host UW-Eau Claire at 2 p.m. A loss and Stout will play the loser of the UW-Oshkosh/UW-La Crosse at 4 p.m.

There could be a certain revenge factor laying in the weeds for UW-Whitewater. The Blue Devils earlier this season split with the Warhawks and in the 2015 WIAC Championship at Eau Claire, Stout defeated the Warhawks in the first round of the tournament.

UW-STOUT: Rachel Thomas leads the Blue Devils at the plate, hitting .378 (45-119) with 13 RBI, two home runs and is second in the WIAC in triples with four. Thomas has a team-best 10 stolen bases. Pitcher/first baseman/designate player Beth Wood is hitting .342 (38-111) with a team-best 19 RBI and a home run. Wood has been unshakeable at first base where she has committed no errors. Her only error of the season came on the team's spring break trip on a day she was pitching. Heather Bol has driven in 16 runs with an average of .298 (28-94). Freshmen Alicia Meyer and Kaylee Francois have found ways to drive in runs, with Meyer recording 11 RBI and Francois 14. Meyer has a team-best three home runs and is hitting .283 (17-60), while Francois is .296 (21-71). Two-time first team all-WIAC pitcher Tori Workman continues to deal, rolling up 100 strikeouts over 131.0 innings pitched, tops in the conference in innings pitched and third in strikeouts. Workman owns the Blue Devil career strikeout record and continues to add to it, currently recording 497 strikeouts. Workman recently broke the school's career wins record, surpassing the mark of 53 held by Karen Lien and Carolyn Bare. Workman now has 57 wins. This season, Workman has recorded two saves, running her career total to six, tying the school career record set by Megan Donley. Wood and McKayla Brunner have seen considerable time in the circle. Wood has started 12 games while Brunner has made eight starts and 12 appearances. | 2016 Statistics

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils had eight games scheduled last week, but were able to only play six with the April 28 game at Gustavus Adolphus washed out. The Blue Devils lost to UW-Eau Claire, April 27, 9-3, 5-4, swept UW-Stevens Point, April 30, 5-2, 3-1, and split with Bethel University, May 1 in the final home game of the season, winning 2-0, but losing 6-4 in the second. |  UW-Eau Claire Game Story and Statistics | UW-Stevens Point Game Story and Statistics | Bethel Game Story and Statistics


WIAC PRESEASON POLL The Blue Devils were selected to finish fifth, accoring to a WIAC preseason poll. UW-Whitewater was picked first, followed by UW-Oshkosh, UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse. UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville were chosen sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

RECORD BEATER: When UW-Stout collected 25 runs in a 25-0 win over Southern Vermont University, March 15, it established a school record for most runs scored in a single game. The Blue Devils scored 11 runs in the first inning alone. Stout finished the game with 13 hits, but only three hits were extra base hits, with a double by Alicia Meyer and triples by Sara Griesbach and Kelly Austin. Stout drew nine walks in the contest and twice Blue Devil batters were hit by a pitch. The previous record was 20 runs scored against Wisconsin Lutheran in 2000. Austin is thought to have tied a school record when she scored four runs against Southern Vermont.

WORKMAN WORKING THE Ks: Pitcher Tori Workman holds the school record for most strikeouts in a single season (160) and this season set the school record for most career strikeouts, surpassing Karen Lien's 409 strikeouts. Lien, a Blue Devil Hall of Fame member, pitched from 1992-95. Workman currently has 497 career strikeouts and moved up to seventh on the WIAC career strikeout list, moving past UW-La Crosse's Sally Wenzel (432 - 2000-03). Karen Guckenburg (504 - 2000-03) of UW-Stevens Point is sixth on the list. Ronessa Stampfli (2005-08) of UW-Oshkosh has a firm grip on the WIAC career record with 1019 strikeouts. Workman also moved onto the WIAC list for most innings pitched. Workman is seventh overall in the WIAC with 623.2 innings pitched. Workman just moved past Lien and Carolyn Bare for the most UW-Stout wins by a pitcher. Lien and Bare (1995-98) both have 53 wins. Workman has seven wins this season to move her total to 54 career wins. Workman is third on the UW-Stout all-time list for innings pitched. Lien threw 660.0 innings throughout her career and Megan Donley threw 631.1 innings.

TRIPLE TIME: The Blue Devils have put up 10 triples so far this year, with Rachel Thomas in second in the league with four. Kaylee Francois has two, while Kelly Austin, Tori Workman, Sara Griesbach, and Alyssa Germscheid each have one.

WIAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Stout has grabbed the tournament title once, that coming in 2005 at UW-Whitewater. Overall, Stout is 24-38 in WIAC tournament games. Stout finished second in 1995, a year the tournament was held in Menomonie. Stout last hosted the tournament in 2014.


UW-WHITEWATER: The Warhawks are led by sophomore Mallory Klotz  who is tops on the team in batting average (.390), runs (37), hits (46), and triples (3). Klotz has started every game this season in left field and has led off the batting order in all but one game. Freshman Caitlin Catino has also done some damage at the plate. Catino has notched 27 runs, 3 triples and 4 homeruns in her first season. She is the everyday centerfielder and typically bats behind Klotz in the order. Third in the lineup on most days is Emily Rux, another freshman, who plays shortstop. Rux leads the team in RBIs (35). Rounding out a powerful top of the order is Amy Ricci, the Warhawks' junior first baseman. Ricci is hitting .358 and has belted 3 homers to go along with 33 RBIs. In the circle the Warhawks rely on Julia Camardo to get the job done. Camardo, a freshman, is 14-4 this season with a 2.26 ERA and 131 strikeouts. She's pitched over 120 innings and has earned one save.. | 2016 Statistics

WARHAWKS LAST TIME OUT: Whitewater  dropped a pair of close games Sunday afternoon against UW-La Crosse in a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader in La Crosse, Wisconsin.The Warhawks dropped the first game by a score of 7-5. The Eagles  took the second game 1-0. | Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME THEY MET: Less than a month ago the Blue Devils visited van Steendreen Complex in Whitewater and split a doubleheader with the Warhawks. UW-W lost game one 6-2 and won game two 9-8. Stout will enter the tournament with an overall record of 17-19 and a league tally of 6-8. Last season the Warhawks faced Stout in a first round game falling to the Blue Devils 9-5 before going on to win their next four games and capture the tournament crown and the league's NCAA DIII automatic bid. But in that tournament game at Carson Park last season, Stout's Rachel Thomas set the tone when she ripped a lead-off home run, propelling the Blue Devils to a 9-5 win. | 2016 Game Story and Statistics | 2015 WIAC Tournament Game


NFCA RANKINGS: No WIAC schools were listed in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 poll. UW-Oshkosh is receiving votes. | NFCA Top 25 poll

BLUE DEVILS LAST SEASON: The Blue Devils were 16-27 overall and 7-9 in league play. The Blue Devils advanced to the WIAC tournament and knocked off second seeded UW-Whitewater in the first game of the tournament. | 2015 Statistics

AWARDS AND HONORS: Tori Workman was selected as the 2015-16 UW-Stout female athlete of the year...Nicole Rogers received the 2016 WMG Humanitarian Award...Tori Workman was selected the UW-Stout/Northwestern Athlete of the Week, April 26, after notching her school record 54th career win...Tori Workman was the WIAC pitcher of the week after allowing no earned runs in a loss to St. Benedict to open the season and after seeing action in the circle in seven of UW-Stout's final 10 games at the Fastpitch Dreams Softball Classic in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. She started four games in South Carolina, finishing with an ERA of 1.28 and a record of 3-2....Tori Workman was a first team all-WIAC selection in 2015.

2016 TEAM LEADERS: The designated team leaders for the 2016 season are Tori Workman, Nicole Rogers and McKayla Brunner.

COACHES: Blue Devil coach Becky Iaccino (35-37) is in her first year as the head coach of the Blue Devils. Iaccino played professionally in Italy from 2003 to 2011 and with the Italian National team from 2005-07. She has been the head coach at Marian University where she was selected as conference coach of the year, and has eight years of experience as an assistant coach at Division I and III programs, most recently at Concordia University Chicago. UW-Whitewater:  Brenda Volk has been the head coach of the UW-Whitewater softball program since 1999, and enters her 18th year at the helm in 2016. Volk has led the Warhawks to five Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships, five WIAC Tournament titles and nine NCAA Tournament appearances, including a national runner-up finish in 2008 and a third-place finish in 2014. She is a five-time WIAC Coach of the Year.

ON DECK: The winner of the WIAC Championship will earn a bid to the NCAA Division III Championship, which begins play at a regional site, May 13-15, to be determined.