Softball Preview: Blue Devils jump into WIAC tournament

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (16-22, 5-9 WIAC) have qualified to the WIAC Championship as the fifth seed and will face fourth seeded UW-Eau Claire, (27-9, 8-6 WIAC), Friday, May 5 at 10 a.m. at UW-Whitewater. The tournament runs May 5-7.

UW-STOUT: Beth Wood and Kyncaide Diedrich are neck and neck in terms of batting average with Wood leading the team at.368 and Diedrich right behind her at .367. Three more Blue Devils are hitting over.300 including Rachel Thomas (.357), Kaylee Francois (.344), and Megan Hultgren (.309). Alicia Meyer continues to hit bombs and leads the team in home runs with five to close the regular season. Francois has been the most patient at the plate, drawing 14 walks with Meyer right behind her with 13. Diedrich is not only a force on the base paths. She has stolen 19 bases on 23 attempts which is 12 more than Jessica Daley who is second on the team stealing seven-of-seven. Diedrich has also been one of the most consistent pitchers this season. She's posted a 3.57 ERA, in 51.0 innings pitched, and posting a 5-5 record. Wood has pitched the most for the Blue Devils, almost doubling Diedrich's inning total with 101.2 innings pitched, striking out 51, and getting seven wins on the season. | 2017 Statistics

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: It was not a good week for the Blue Devils, even though the team closed out the season at home. A game with St. Olaf College scheduled for April 25 was canceled and weather played a factor the rest of the week. Stout lost to UW-Eau Claire, 5-0, 9-1, April 28, to UW-Whitewater, 8-0, 6-1, April 29 and to UW-Oshkosh, 1-0, 4-3, April 30. | Eau Claire Game Story and Statistics | Whitewater Game Story and Statistics | Oshkosh Game Story and Statistics

CLIMBING THE LADDER: Kyncaide Diedrich has stolen 19 bases in 23 attempts this season, moving her into fifth on the single season stolen base list and tied for 11th on the all-time career list. She is third in the WIAC.

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

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.

WIAC Softball Championship Schedule
Friday, May 5
Game 1--UW-Eau Claire (#4) vs. UW-Stout (#5), 10:00 a.m.
Game 2--UW-La Crosse (#2) vs. UW-Oshkosh (#3), Noon
Game 3--Game 1 winner at UW-Whitewater (#1), 2:00 p.m.
Game 4--Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 4:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 6
Game 5--Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 10:00 a.m.
Game 6--Game 4 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser, Noon
Game 7--Game 6 Winner vs. Game 5 Loser, 2:00 p.m.
 
Sunday, May 7
Game 8--Game 5 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 10:00 a.m.
Game 9--If necessary – If Game 7 Winner wins Game 8, Noon




UW-EAU CLAIRE: The Blugolds are riding an eight-game winning streak heading into the WIAC Tournament. The Blugolds had a game with St. Mary's University scheduled for Tuesday cancelled. Rachel Heffel broke the single-season stolen base record as the  Blugolds swept the Blue Devils last weekend. Heffel now has 39 bases stolen, breaking the 22-year-old record once held by Tammy Brandt in 1995. Evie Schaller is hitting a team-best .402, good for seventh in the WIAC and has 11 doubles, a triple, six home runs and 36 RBI. Heffel is hitting .350. Lauren Blasczyk and Sarah Peka are among the top five pitchers in the league in terms of ERA. Blazcyk is third and holds an ERA of 1.40 with 89 strikeouts. Peka is 11-1 overall with an ERA of 1.72 with 34 strikeouts. Both threw against the Blue Devils last week. | 2017 Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND EAU CLAIRE MET: The Blugolds swept the Blue Devils in Menomonie last weekend, taking 5-0, 9-1 wins. | Game Stories and Statistics


NFCA RANKINGS: UW-Whitewater is ranked ninth in the May 3 NFCA Division III poll. Second seeded UW-La Crosse is ranked 23rd and UW-Eau Claire is on tops of the receiving votes category with 19 votes, while UW-Oshkosh received four votes.  | NFCA Top 25 poll

BLUE DEVILS LAST SEASON: The Blue Devils were 17-21 overall and 6-8 in league play. The Blue Devils advanced to the WIAC tournament. | 2016 Statistics

AWARDS AND HONORS: Kaylee Francois was selected the UW-Stout/DigiCopy Athlete of the Week April 12...Pitcher/infielder Beth Wood and catcher/outfielder Rachel Thomas were 2016 all-WIAC honorable mention selections...2016: 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.


COACHES: Blue Devil coach Becky Iaccino (54-61 overall, 33-43 at UW-Stout) is in her second 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. .UW-EAU CLAIRE: Leslie Huntington is in her 16th season and is the Blugolds' all-time winningest coach and earned her 400th career win on March 20, 2016. In 2008 Huntington led the Blugolds to an NCAA Division III national championship, the first in program history. In 2007 the team finished third in the nation. Between 2004-2006, Huntington received three WIAC Coach of the Year awards in a row, each year the Blugolds won WIAC titles, the first time in WIAC history a team won three straight. She was also named WIAC Coach of the Year in 2012.She has coached seven All-Americans, 40 recipients of All-Region recognition, 46 named first time All-WIAC selections, and eight Academic All-District selections and one Academic All-American.

GRAND APPEARANCE: Alicia Meyer hit a grand slam against the College of Mount St. Vincent, March 14. Meyer had six RBI in the game. Previous to Meyer's grand slam, the last 4-RBI round tripper came March 8, 2013 by Alison Gray against St. Olaf College.

GRAND SLAMS
Alicia Meyer vs. the College of Mount St. Vincent, March 14, 2017
Alison Gray vs. St. Olaf College, March 8, 2013

ON DECK: The NCAA Division III Championship begins with the regional event, May 12-14.