SPRINGFIELD, Ohio—After sweeping the Terries of Hiram in the final conference bout of 2017, the Tigers of Wittenberg were crowned the regular season NCAC champions. The Tigers finished 15-1 in NCAC play, and 29-5 overall in 2017, as the defending NCAC Tournament Champions have climbed all the way to #18 in the latest NFCA Coaches Poll, as well as a #2 rank in the Central region behind #9 Trine.
The Tigers blew through NCAC play with their lone loss coming against the Fighting Scots of Wooster on April 25, the team that the Tigers will open up against in the NCAC tournament on Friday, May 5. Entering as the #1 seed in the tournament, Wittenberg will battle with Wooster at home, as the Tigers host the four-team conference tournament.
With an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line, Wittenberg looks for their second consecutive tournament berth under head coach Laura Matthews, as #2 DePauw and #3 Denison open up tournament play on Friday at 10:00AM. #1 Wittenberg and #4 Wooster follow the opening round game at noon, with the winners from game one and two squaring off at 2:00PM, and the losers playing at 4:00PM.
UNTOUCHABLE: The Tigers have outscored their opponents 178-60 in 2017 behind Chelsea Zang and Abby Haab in the circle. Zang has logged 131 innings on the mound for the Tigers, recording a 1.44 ERA and a sparkling 18-2 record. Haab has nearly matched Zang, pitching to a 1.57 ERA while striking out 63 in 92 innings of work.
RED HOT: The Tigers boast five starters with batting averages over the .300 mark, as Abby Curnutte has paced the Tigers through 34 games with a batting average of .394, including five home runs and 27 RBI's. Senior second-basemen, Casey Hobbs, has produced all year at the plate for the red and white, playing every out of every game in 2017, while hitting .333 with 27 RBI's.
APRIL: The month of April was particularly good to the Tigers, as the team managed to raddle off a record of 17-1. The Tigers ran through the NCAC with a record of 15-1 before losing to the College of Wooster on April 25. Wittenberg's hard fought month featured multiple one-run contests, while the Tigers are 7-0 in 2017 in one-run games.
STREAKS: Winning as many as 14 games in a row, the Tigers did not lose back-to-back contests in 2017. In games where the Tigers led by five or more runs, Wittenberg produced a 12-1 record, and finished the regular season with a 1-0 mark in extra inning contests.
THE COACH: Head Coach Laura Matthews has seen her team climb to #18 in the NFCA Coaches Poll, while the Tennessee native surpassed the 100 win plateau for the Tigers on opening day against John Carroll. After graduating a senior class a year ago that led the Tigers to a NCAC Championship and NCAA Regional birth, Matthews and assistant Coach Kennedy Haynes have their club poised for another run in the NCAC tournament just a year later.
FRESH EATS: Fans should come hungry to Betty Doughman-Dillahunt field on Friday and Saturday, as famous Rudy's Smokehouse will have a food-truck at the game, featuring all of your favorite mouth-watering barbeque items.
NCAC TOURNAMENT: Since the inception of the NCAC Softball Tournament in the 2001 season, Denison has claimed six tournament titles (2001-02, '06, '08, '10, '12). Allegheny is second with four tourney titles (2004-05, '07, '13), Hiram and DePauw have each won two titles: Hiram (2009, '11) and DePauw (2014, '15), while Wittenberg won its first title in 2003, before again claiming the top spot last year.