IWU Sports

9 March 2004

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Coming off a national Division III third place finish, maintaining a high level of excellence is a lofty goal for the Illinois Wesleyan softball team.

The Titans, 38-8 last season, open their 2004 slate on Friday (March 12) with two games in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Classic in LaGrange, Ga. IWU plays Coe at 2:30 p.m. and Ithaca at 5 p.m. with tournament games continuing through Sunday.

The Titans won 30 games for the fourth straight season and the seventh time in 13 years, and qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament for the fourth straight year as a result of winning the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament as well as the league's regular season title.
"I don't think complacency will be much of a factor for us this year," said Williams, whose two-year record is 70-19. "We know we need to win our league to qualify for the national tourney and our goal is to take care of winning games as they come up on the schedule."

Leading the returning players are junior centerfielder Brynn Hasse and senior pitcher Kelly Murray, who shared the Titan "MVP" honor last year.

Hasse (Chillicothe, IVC HS) was chosen as IWU's first-ever first team All-American as she batted .472 with a Division III-leading 77 hits and nine triples. She had a team-high .620 slugging percentage, stole 15 bases and batted in 26 runs.

Murray (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS) set IWU records with 19 wins (19-4), a 1.09 earned run average and 160 innings pitched. For her career she has 40 pitching victories, seven short of the all-time record, and her career 1.37 earned run average is the best of any Titan with more than 300 innings pitched. She is also second all-time with 246 strikeouts, behind Jennie Siron, who fanned 363 from 1993-96.

Murray, who will be the designated hitter, batted .258 with 22 RBI and seven doubles.

Returning with Hasse in the outfield will be senior Nicole Williams in left and sophomore Natalie Hackett (New Lenox, Lincoln-Way Central HS) in right. The speedy Williams (Park Forest, Crete-Monee HS) missed almost half of last spring with a knee injury but still batted .466 and stole 27 bases in 29 attempts. She is already IWU's all-time steals leader with 80, easily eclipsing the old mark of 54, held by Jackie Kloiber (1997-00).

Williams will miss the Titans' spring trip this year while running in the NCAA Division III national track championships in Whitewater, Wis.

Senior Lisa Krapf (Monee, Peotone HS) and freshman Laura Johnson (Morton HS) are other outfield candidates.

Junior Colleen Schuster (Joliet HS) returns to play shortstop after hitting .389 with 10 doubles and a team-best 41 runs batted in, fourth most in an IWU season. After two years, Schuster is No. 10 in career RBI at the school.

In the infield, Schuster will be surrounded by two sophomores - Michelle Bradley (Oak Brook, Downers Grove North HS) at third base and Katie Frawley (Oswego, N.Y., HS) at first base - and junior Jenny Freeman (Tremont HS) at second base. Bradley, Frawley and Freeman combined for only 35 at bats last spring playing in reserve roles behind the graduated Stephanie Stephen and Steph Hieser, but Williams isn't worried by a lack of experience.

"I think some of our younger players are really ready to have 'break-out' seasons after waiting their turns behind veterans last season," said Williams. "They are talented and have been working very hard in the preseason."

Freeman needs to step up immediately playing second base for the first three to four weeks of the season as senior Jamie Palmer (Knoxville HS) heals from a knee injury. Palmer batted .366 with 13 doubles as a regular in 2003.

Senior Nicole Reed (Normal, West HS), last year's "Most Improved Player", will also see action at third base and freshman Molly Coers (Manito, Midwest Central HS) is a backup at the middle infielder positions.

Reed batted .309 with three home runs and eight RBI in 26 games and hit .500 in IWU's four Division III World Series games.

Senior Kat Mason (Galesburg HS) is a solid catcher whom hit .293 with six doubles, three HR and 21 RBI.

Joining Murray on the mound will be lightly-used juniors Ashley Patten (Dwight HS) and Alesia Perry (Yorkville HS), along with Frawley. Patten was 1-0 in five games and Perry was 5-2 in 10 games in 2003.

Titans Aim for Conference, National Tournament Repeats