Carmen Montgomery

The Wittenberg softball team knows exactly what to accomplish and how to accomplish it. Now comes the hard part, reaching that goal - which means winning a second straight North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship on the regular season champions' home field.

The third-seeded Tigers will start that quest at 10 a.m. on Friday against regular season co-champion and No. 2 seed Ohio Wesleyan. The two teams split a doubleheader in Springfield on April 17. The tournament is a double-elimination affair, and the Tigers could play a maximum of four games in two days, as they did a year ago in upsetting top-seeded host Denison.

The Tigers' games will be broadcast on WUSO 89.1-FM this weekend, and they can also be heard on the Internet.

In the last week, the Tigers have ridden the rollercoaster. Perfectly positioned to capture their first NCAC regular season crown since 2000, the Tigers tripped over the weekend, splitting two games with Kenyon on Friday and then losing a pair at home to Allegheny. Those results allowed the Gators and Ohio Wesleyan to slip past the Tigers and share first place in the standings.

Then came a nonconference sweep of visiting Transylvania on Tuesday. In both games, Wittenberg rallied from two runs down to win against a team that came in with a 22-10-1 overall record. On Wednesday, the Tigers closed the regular season with a pair of losses at Capital, although Wittenberg was playing without three starters due to class conflicts.

The games against Transylvania were played on Senior Day at Betty Dillahunt Field. It was the final home appearance in the Red & White for Carmen Montgomery (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern), Kristen Hillebrand (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) and Katie Gildow (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine).

Juniors Norah Gillam (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) and Jen Fleming (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) have carried the pitching load for the Tigers. Gillam has made 15 appearances, including 13 starts, and she leads the team with 10 pitching wins and an earned run average of 2.05. Fleming has a 7-5 record in 14 appearances, including 12 starts, and a 2.29 ERA.

Offensively, Montgomery has been the unquestioned leader all season. She ranks among the NCAC leaders in batting average (.418) and she also paces the Tigers in at-bats (122), hits (51), doubles (11), total bases (71) and slugging percentage (.582). Montgomery, already an All-NCAC selection several times in her career, is a bona fide Player of the Year candidate.

Sophomore Katelyn Beddow (Lexington, Ohio/Ashland) ranks second on the team with a .389 batting average, freshman Stephanie Zorn (Grapevine, Texas/Colleyville) is hitting .340 and shares the team lead with 19 runs and juniorKatie Carver (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) checks in with a team-best 19 runs batted in.