SMU Fastpitch Softball

RoadTo Wartburg

The Pointers earned the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title, despite finishing last in the conference during the regular-season. UW-Stevens Point had to battle through the WIAC tournament as the seventh seed, but beat each of the top three seeds, including top-seeded UW-La Crosse twice. The Pointers defeated the Eagles 2-1 in the tournament's title game to earn the conference's automatic berth

Pre-TournamentNotes

UW-Stevens Point is making its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in the last six years and its seventh all-time tournament appearance. The Pointers, who are 11-11 in post-season play, won the 1998 Division III national championship and have three current players who started on that team in second baseman Kelly Rutta, centerfielder Sarah Berg and rightfielder Cari Briley. UW-Stevens Point also appeared in the 1996 World Series. The Pointers have never played any of this year's regional qualifiers in previous postseasons. … UW-Stevens Point enters the tournament having won 12 of its last 13 games. … Rutta was named the WIAC East Division Player of the Year for the second straight season and is hitting .452 for the season while ranking sixth in Division III with eight triples. Rutta reached base in 15 of 19 plate appearances at last weekend's conference tournament and is hitting .682 with runners in scoring position. … Berg, meanwhile, is the school's all-time RBI leader with 130 for her career and is hitting .354 this season, while Briley is also a four-year starter and joins Rutta and Berg among the school's all-time career leaders in most offensive categories. … A big reason for the Pointers' success this season has been the team's pitching staff that has limited opponents to a .196 batting average while posting a 1.23 ERA, which ranks 15th in Division III. Sophomore Karen Guckenberger pitched 28 innings in two days last weekend and finished 4-0 for the WIAC tournament. Senior Nicki Bertram is 10-4 with a 2.05 ERA and opened the season 6-0. …Guckenberger has won eight straight games since starting the season at 6-7 and ranks 11th in Division III in earned run average at 0.72. She allowed no earned runs in five of her seven losses and leads Division III with five saves. Guckenberger is the school's career strikeout leader with 238 strikeouts in less than two seasons. … The Pointers have won seven straight one-run games — all during the last 13 games. Prior to the current streak UW-Stevens Point was 1-4 in one-run contests. … UW-Stevens Point went 4-0 against UW-La Crosse this season, winning three of the games by one run. …The Pointers are 5-1 against teams in the tournament, having swept Marian and Chicago, while also beating Oneonta State (N.Y.) and losing to North Central (Ill.). …The Pointers qualified for the NCAA tournament through winning the WIAC tournament for only the third time. They also won the WIAC tournament in 1990 and 1982, but lost their first two games in the NCAA tournament. UW-Stevens Point won the WIAC tournament in 1995, but didn't qualify for the NCAA tourney.

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