By Bryan Bloodworth
SALEM, Va. – The last time Illinois Wesleyan’s softball team appeared in the NCAA Division III World Series, Coach Kat McCreery was the starting catcher in her junior year as the Titans finished third.
“The most fun I ever had playing the game was my junior year when we went to the College World Series,” said McCreery, who is in her third year at the Titans’ helm. “There’s just something really special about NCAA post-season. There’s just a magic about it.”
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McCreery leads this year’s team into the eight-team double-elimination tournament with a No. 18 national ranking and a 35-11 record. The Titans open play Thursday at 3 p.m. against unranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (33-12).
“We’re so excited,” added McCreery. “This is what you play for all season – to get to the World Series. We couldn’t be happier.”
McCreery believes the strength of the Titans, who had to rally and win two straight in the Super Regional to advance, is their character and fight.
“I don’t think the girls doubted themselves for a moment,” she added. “They have so much fight and confidence in one another. They know what it means to be a great teammate.”
There have certainly been plenty of highs and lows during the season, according to McCreery.
“In the (CCIW) conference tournament we did not play well, so that was a good gut-check for us,” she continued. “I think the girls really refocused the following week. Luckily, we had built a strong enough schedule and record throughout the year that our RPI was high enough that we were still able to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
After that we’ve just been lights out. Our bats have been great. Our pitching has been great and our base-running and defense has been fantastic, so everything has certainly come together at the right time.”
And what’s McCreery’s advice for her team?
“You can’t make it bigger than it is because if you start trying to play outside yourself or bigger, that’s when you run into problems,” she said. “As long as they continue to play their game and trust each other, I think we could do really well this weekend.”
Other first-round matchups have Tyler, Texas against St. John Fisher; Emory opposite St. Thomas Minn.; and Messiah against Rowan.
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected]
