FULTON, Mo. -- After a bit of a stumble to close out the regular season, the William Woods University softball team opens postseason play on Friday as the no. 2 seed. The Owls host league newcomers Benedictine University-Springfield in a best-of-three series, beginning with a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
Quick Look - William Woods
Coming into the tournament as the number two seed, the Owls look to repeat their amazing run from 2011 and win a second straight AMC Conference title and return to the NAIA National Championship. WWU is currently sitting just outside the top 25 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, having earned 80 points in the weekly balloting. The team boasts four .300+ hitters on the season, with
Ilissa Facchini leading in both batting average (.375) and on base percentage (.522), having drawn 29 walks on the year. The junior has also picked up 29 RBI, second best on the team.
Lindsey LeCuru (batting .364) has the team's best slugging percentage, with her 17 doubles, one triple and four home runs good for a .580 mark and a national ranking - 18th in total doubles, 20th in doubles per game.
Kristy Pluchinski (.375) and
Caroline Sicht (.362) round out the .300 club, with Sicht bringing home a team-best 30 RBI on the year.
Kelsey Schulte - while sitting just shy of the .300 mark at .297 - leads the team with six triples, good for ninth in the country.
Schulte is also nationally-ranked in the circle for WWU, holding her opponents to a .196 batting average - 41st in the country - and has the 46th-best ERA in the country on the 2012 campaign with a .160. As a team, the Owls post a 1.98 ERA and have forced their opponents into an ERA of 3.60.
MacKenzie Bowden has pulled almost level with Schulte in terms of time (110.1 innings pitched to 114.0) although she has one additional appearance, but Bowden has the much better record with 11 wins and just five losses to her credit, compared to a 9-7 record for Schulte. Bowden is also dominating the national rankings, however, holding down the fourth spot with 13.05 strikeouts per nine innings, and ranks 19th in total strikeouts with 160. She also ranks 24th in opponents batting average, holding her foes to a .184 mark. Bowden is also officially 18th in the country with three saves on the year, although due to a lingering bug in DakStats, her true ranking is much closer to the top 10.
Both Schulte and Bowden have had success against the Bulldogs, as the pair threw back-to-back no-hitters in the previous meeting between the teams. Schulte needed just 50 pitches to complete a perfect game against the Bulldogs.
In the field, the Owls are also solid, ranking 25th in the country in fielding percentage with a mark of .962. WWU has suffered just 50 errors in 1307 chances, with
Kacey Scharnhorst among a logjam of players with perfect fielding percentages in better than 75 percent of their respective team's games.
Lauren Lopes and
Kristy Pluchinski are also perfect on the year, although both sit just shy of the threshold.
Quick Look - Benedictine-Springfield
The Bulldogs closed the regular season with a 9-29-1 record, mustering a seventh-place finish in the league with a 5-11 mark. As a team, the Bulldogs are batting .242 on the season and allow opponents to hit at a .323 pace. Randi Cookus, Brittany Parks and Kerri Beasley are all batting above .300 on the season, however, with Cookus leading the way with a .328 average. Parks is the top power hitter for the Bulldogs, posting a strong slugging percentage of .562 on the year behing five home runs, two triples and 11 doubles.
The Buildog pitching staff has an ERA of 4.85 on the season, with Kayla McDonald posting the low average for the squad with a 4.05 mark through 85.0 innings of work. She's allowed 111 hits on the year, and given up six home runs, four triples and 23 doubles. Stephanie Angelo has seen the most time in the circle for BU-S, with an era of 4.95 in 94.2 innings of work. She's allowed nine home runs and five triples in her 133 hits on the year, but has managed 67 strikeouts and just 31 walks on the season.
Benedictine University-Springfield also struggles on the defensive end a bit, averaging 2.256 errors per game - 22nd most in the NAIA - with only Kayla McDonald going errorless on the 2012 campaign. The Bulldogs have only managed to catch 11 runners stealing on the season, allowing 77 swipes on the year.
Playoff Bracket
Find the latest playoff information - including live stats links for every game and an up-to-date bracket throughout the tournament - via the tournament central hosted at
amcsportsonline.com, the official website of the American Midwest Conference.
Live Stats Available
In addition to live video for when you're not able to make it to the games, live stats are available for all William Woods University softball games. Launch http://wwuowls.com/SB_LiveStats in your smartphone browser for full details of the games as they happen, including play-by-play, in-game performance and previous plate appearance tracking.
Postseason Admission
As a reminder - per American Midwest Conference and NAIA regulations, WWU season passes are not valid for postseason events. Current William Woods faculty, staff and students are admitted free, with all other tickets just five dollars.
Academic All-Conference
Prior to today's game, we will recognize the Academic All-AMC honorees from both teams. To be selected for this honor, student-athletes must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and must have been a member of the team for the entire year. Congratulations to these outstanding student-athletes on a great year both in and out of the classroom.
William Woods University - Megan Cooper,
Nicole Hamdorf,
Sam Parsons,
Becca Schemmer, Carione Sicht,
Macy Wierschem,
MacKenzie Bowden, Marian Danison,
Lindsey LeCuru,
Ashley DePew,
Ilissa Facchini,
Lauren Lopes,
Leesa Schaumann,
Carinda Schulte and
Kelsey Schulte.
Benedictine University-Springfield - Michelle Alexander, Stephanie Angel, Kerri Beasley, Randi Cookus, Lucia Jiardina, Madeline Jiardina, Kayla McDonald, Lynsey Monroe, Colleen Sherwood, Frances Shoaf, Logan Taylor
