McLean County Times

A four-game road stint will conclude for the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team as they face North Central College in a doubleheader on Thursday, April 18. The games are part of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, with the first pitch moved to 2 p.m. due to expected evening weather.

The Titans enter the match with a season record of 16-7 and have secured three wins out of four since starting league play. Recently, they swept Elmhurst on April 13 with a 4-1 extra-inning win followed by a 14-6 victory. Their opponents, North Central, hold a strong record of 19-5, including a 4-2 conference tally. The Cardinals recently split a doubleheader against Carthage on April 16, winning the first game 5-2 but losing the second 10-3.

Illinois Wesleyan and North Central have faced each other 75 times since 1997, with IWU leading the series at 43-32. They have won six of their last eight encounters. In their latest meeting on April 27 in Bloomington, IWU won the first game 8-4 but lost the second one by a score of 9-4.

IWU's offense is noteworthy this season with a team batting average of .346. Freshman Hailey Milgazo from Poway leads with an average of .481 and has achieved nine stolen bases. Junior Jen Kuhn from Normal holds an on-base percentage of .529 while sophomore Anna Beckman from Bourbonnais boasts a slugging percentage of .750. Sophomore Casey Wissmiller from Bloomington has driven in a team-high of 26 runs and leads with five home runs.

In pitching, sophomore Gianna Certa from Third Lake has been recognized as CCIW Pitcher of the Week. She has an impressive record of eight wins against two losses and leads IWU pitchers with an earned run average (ERA) of 1.93.

The games will be played in Naperville at North Central College starting at 2 p.m., with live statistics and streaming available via iwusports.com.