Related Links:
WIAC Softball Championship Web Page
Live Stats
Live Video
 
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team will host the three-day, five-team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship (Presented by Culver's) this Friday-Sunday at van Steenderen Softball Complex in Whitewater.

Tickets for the tournament cost $5 per adult, $3 for WIAC faculty/staff with identification, $3 for youth and seniors and free for WIAC students with ID and children 4 years of age and younger. All costs are per day.
 
All games will be broadcast live by UWW-TV and are available on campus channel 100.1, in the community on Spectrum channel 989 and online.
 
The Warhawks (22-11-1 overall) claimed their second consecutive WIAC regular season championship, fourth in the last five years and 12th in program history with a 12-2 record in league play during the regular season.
 
Top-seeded UW-Whitewater, which seeks its sixth consecutive tournament title, will face the winner of the contest between No. 4 seed UW-Eau Claire and No. 5 UW-River Falls, which kicks off tournament action at 11:30 a.m. Second-seeded UW-Oshkosh will take on No. 3 UW-Stout at 1:30 p.m., followed by the Warhawks' game against UW-Eau Claire/UW-River Falls at 3:30 p.m.
 
Coming off a 2017 season that included WIAC regular season and tournament championships and hosting an NCAA Tournament regional, the Warhawks started the year with a 7-7 mark in games played at the National Training Center Spring Games in Clermont, Fla. The run included victories over St. Thomas (Minn.) and Tufts (Mass.), which are each ranked among the top 25 in the nation.
 
UW-Whitewater wasn't swept in a single doubleheader during the month of April, tallying a 15-4-1 mark, including a 12-2 mark against conference foes. The team extended its winning streak against WIAC opponents all the way to 27 games before suffering a 5-4 defeat against UW-River Falls on April 20, its first league loss since the 2016 regular season.
 
After tying nationally ranked Illinois Wesleyan to close a doubleheader on April 23, the Warhawks took three of four games on a road trip to UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse last weekend, sealing the WIAC regular season title with a 3-1 win in the first game against the Eagles on Sunday.
 
Freshman Vera Plugradt and senior Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West) lead the offense into the postseason. Pflugradt ranks second in the WIAC with a .412 batting average and owns a .437 on-base percentage.
 
Klotz, who was recently named a top 25 finalist for the Schutt Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III National Player of the Year, leads the team and ranks among league leaders in runs (29), home runs (4) and runs batted in (31). The left fielder is batting .362 with a .437 on-base percentage and hasn't committed an error this season.
 
Junior centerfielder Caitlin Catino (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) has raised her batting average more than 100 points from .233 on April 8 to .337 entering the postseason. She owns 14 extra base hits, including team highs of 10 doubles and four triples, and is a perfect 15-of-15 in stolen base attempts.
 
Sophomore utility player Megan Schweitzer (Appleton, Wis./East) has emerged as one of the league's most dangerous threats on the base paths since transferring from Division I Iowa State prior to the season. She is batting .352 with 27 runs scored and leads the WIAC with 26 stolen bases on 28 attempts.
 
Junior Julia Camardo (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) and sophomore Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield) top UW-Whitewater's pitching rotation entering the WIAC Championship. Camardo holds a 10-5 record with a 1.67 earned run average in 88 innings, while Matthias owns an 8-4 mark with a 2.53 ERA in 77 1/3 innings. The two have combined for 179 strikeouts and are each holding opponents to less than a .225 batting average, ranking 1-2 in the conference in that category.
 
The Warhawks are a combined 17-2 in their last five WIAC Championship appearances and hold more titles (9) than any other team in conference history. UW-Whitewater is hosting the tournament for the second straight season.