Softball Preview: Stout to meet Whitewater Sunday

at UW-Whitewater: Live Stats | Live Video

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (12-3, 0-0 WIAC) are off to the best start in school history after going 9-1 during their annual spring break trip. The Blue Devils went 2-1 in the Chicago area, downing Concordia-Chicago, 9-8, March 30, then splitting with Lake Forest College, winning the first, 2-0, but falling in the second game, 4-1. Stout was scheduled to open the WIAC schedule at UW-Oshkosh (13-6, 0-0 WIAC), Saturday, April 7, but that game has been postponed to Sunday, April 15. As of Friday, the Blue Devils were still scheduled to play at UW-Whitewater (7-7, 0-0 WIAC), Sunday, April 8 with a 1 p.m. first pitch. Whitewater was the preseason favorite to win the conference title and was ranked in the top 25 of the NFCA, but has dropped out of the national rankings.


UW-STOUT: Mary Iliopoulos has just been scorching the ball since arriving at Stout. The sophomore leads the Blue Devils and the conference at the plate with a .677 batting average, going 21-of-31 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs and nine RBI and has a slugging percentage of 1.065 and an on-base percentage of .730 after drawing six walks. Iliopoulos has also stolen 12 bases, including home, this season. Stout at the plate with an average of .696 (16-of-23). Kyncaide Diedrich has been out for several games, but is batting .488, with a 10-game hitting streak. Diedrich has driven in 17 runners and has stolen a league-best 18 bases. Iliopoulos is second in the WIAC in stolen bases. Freshmen Renee Murphy, Sommer Kunstmann and Meghan Kelly are all hitting .400 or better, Murphy at .429, Kuntman .407 and Kelly .400. Senior Beth Wood is knocking the ball around at a .419 clisp. Rachel Thomas, who had two sacrifice flies in a 2-0 win over Lake Forest, is hitting .327 (16-49) with 15 RBI. As a team, the Blue Devils are batting .370 and the Blue Devil pitchers are allowing a batting average of .272. Stout has stolen 52 bases in 56 attempts. River Falls is second in the league with 33 stolen bases. Wood (3.73, 5-1) leads the pitching staff and has started eight games, completing four of them. Melea Bruns (3.24, 3-2) has started five games. Meghan Kelly has an ERA of 1.56 and Sommer Kunstmann has an ERA of 2.17. | 2018 Statistics

NATIONALLY RANKED: Mary Iliopoulos is ranked second nationally in batting average, and sixth in slugging percentage. Kyncaide Diedrich is ranked third nationally in stolen bases (1.42/game). Iliopoulos has a six-game active hitting streak, and has been kept off the basepaths only once this season. She has collected four doubles, a triple and two home runs for 33 bases, generally batting out of the ninth spot.  Diedrich has a 10-game activehitting streak going, but has made it to base at least once in all 11 games she has played.  Iliopoulos is ranked 29th nationally in stolen bases (0.86/game). Iliopoulos stole four bases, one short of the school record, against Mount St. Joseph.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: UW-Stout used two sacrifice flies to win the opener at Lake Forest College, 2-0, but the Forester came back to score three runs in the final two innings of game two to split the weekend series with a 4-1 win Saturday. Rachel Thomas lifted two sacrifice flies to score the only runs of the first game and Beth Wood struck out eight and allowed no runs for the win. | Lake Forest Story and Statistics

.DOUBLE SACRIFICE: When Rachel Thomas recorded two sacrifice flies in a 2-0 win over Lake Forest College, March 31, she joined a select group of Division III softball players. Hitting two sacrifice flies in a single game is not overly rare, but the NCAA does not keep the stat, nor does the WIAC. What is rare is to score the only two runs of the game in accomplishing the feat. Most games in an informal poll of Division III schools where two sacrifice flies were hit by the same player were in lopsided wins. It appears as if Thomas is the first UW-Stout player to do rap out to sac flies in a single game.

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



UW-WHITEWATER:  Whitewater, the defending regular-season and tournament champion, has been tabbed to win the 2018 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) softball championship, according to a preseason poll conducted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.The first-place finish in the regular-season was the 11th in program history, while the tournament title was the ninth in school archives – and fifth straight. The Warhawks, who are ranked No. 10 nationally in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Poll distributed on March 7, also made their 20th NCAA appearance in 2017 and welcome back seven starting position players and three starting pitchers. The returnees are led by Bella Matthias, who secured Pitcher of the Year recognition last season after leading the WIAC with 18 wins, 133 strikeouts and 10 shutouts. The 10 shutouts were the third-best total in conference history. Mallory Klotz topped the league with a .470 batting average, .531 on-base percentage, 71 hits and 57 runs scored, while finishing second with nine home runs.  Matthias and Klotz are among the 50 players named to the NFCA NCAA Division III National Player of the Year Watch List. Head Coach Brenda Volk has notched her 600th career win early this season, becoming the 33rd coach in NCAA Division III history to reach the 600-win mark.

Mallory Klotz is posting a .419 batting average with 13 RBI, matching Emily Rux with runs batted in. Rux is hitting at a .333 clip. Julia Carmado is 4-1 overall with an ERA of 2.43, recording 24 strikeouts in 31.2 innings pitched. Bella Matthias has an ERA of 3.46, is 2-4 overall with 25 strikeouts. | 2018 Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND WHITEWATER MET: UW-Whitewater stayed perfect in conference play and did it at the expense of UW-Stout with an 8-0, 6-1 sweep April 29 at Alumni Field. The Warhawks scored seven runs in the top of the fifth to take command in the opener and end the game on the 8-run rule after five innings. Bella Matthias kept Stout hitless through the five innings. Whitewater opened second game by scoring three runs in each the first and second innings, but then the Blue Devils kept the Warhawks off the board the rest of the way, allowing only three hits in the final five innings. | Game Stories and Statistics




NFCA RANKINGS: UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh were both ranked in the Top 25 of the NFCA poll, but both dropped out this week. Currently ranked teams that Stout will meet or has met this year include: Luther College and St. Thomas. | NFCA Top 25 poll

BLUE DEVILS LAST SEASON: The Blue Devils were 18-24 overall and 5-9 in league play. The Blue Devils advanced to the WIAC tournament, finishing one game short of the conference tournament title game. | 2017 Statistics

TEAM CAPTAINS: The 2018 team captains are seniors Rachel Thomas and Beth Wood and junior Kaylee Francois.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Kyncaide Diedrich was the Fastpitch News Division III national player of the week, March 21, after the Blue Devils' trip to Florida, stealing 17 bases and batting .559 with 17 RBI...Mary Iliopoulos was the WIAC athlete of the week and the UW-Stout/Toppers athlete of the week selection March 20 after batting .692 in Florida...Mary Iliopoulos was the WIAC athlete of the week Feb. 27 after going 4-of-4 in two games of the opening week.


COACHES: Blue Devil coach Becky Iaccino (65-66 overall / 47-87 at UW-Stout) is in her third 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-OSHKOSH: Scott Beyer enters his fifth season as UW-Oshkosh's head softball coach. He owns a 112-49 overall record with the Titans. Beyer has coached eight UW-Oshkosh players to 14 total all-region honors and eight players to 16 total all-conference awards, including 2015 WIAC Pitcher of the Year Sara Brunlieb and 2016 WIAC Co-Postion Player of the Year Abby Menting. In 2014, a program record-tying five Titans received all-region accolades. In Beyer's first four seasons at the helm, UW-Oshkosh has established new school records in batting average, doubles, triples, home runs, stolen bases, slugging percentage and fielding percentage. UW-WHITEWATER: Brenda Volk is entering her 20th year at the helm in 2017-18. Volk has led the Warhawks to six Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships, seven WIAC Tournament titles and 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. Volk has been named WIAC Coach of the Year six times during her career. Volk, along with her coaching staff, was also recognized as NFCA Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year in 1999, 2008 and 2014.

GRAND APPEARANCE: Katelyn Schobert hit not only her first collegiate grand slam, but her first collegiate home run with a bases-loaded round tripper against Westfield State College, March 16, 2018, in Clermont, Fla. 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 (Since 2013)
Katelyn Schobert vs. Westfield State College, March 16, 2018
Alicia Meyer vs. the College of Mount St. Vincent, March 14, 2017
Alison Gray vs. St. Olaf College, March 8, 2013

ON DECK: This spring has been tricky for all of the teams in the Midwest. The Blue Devils are scheduled to be at UW-Eau Claire, Thursday, April 12 with a 4 p.m. start. Stout will then open the home portion of their schedule by hosting UW-River Falls, Saturday, April 14 at 2 p.m.,then will be at UW-Oshkosh, Sunday, April 15 at 1:30 p.m.  With the wacky spring weather, the Blue Devils' schedule could change.