Illinois Wesleyan softball prepares for return trip to College World Series

Posted on May 24, 2017

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – First-year Illinois Wesleyan softball coach Tiffany Prager admits a sense of relief in getting her Titans to the College World Series.

The team she inherited from coach Kat McCreery advanced to the national finals last spring.

“You want to achieve the level of success that has kind of been trademarked here at Illinois Wesleyan,” Prager said. “I want to get there, I want to win, but I want to do it the right way too.”

The Titans make a return trip to the NCAA Div. III Softball Championship series. IWU (36-13) will face St. Catherine (38-12) at 4 p.m. Thursday in its opening game of the double-elimination tournament at USA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Prager hopes the Titans’ 11 returning players learned from last year’s trip which resulted in a quick two-game exit.

“I think the girls definitely want to find a way to win at least one game while we are there,” Prager said. “I think the experience from last year’s team is definitely going to play into our success.”

The Titans clinched a berth in the national finals with two come-from-behind extra inning wins over host Transylvania in the Super Regional Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky.

Prager added much of the team’s success this season comes from lifting each other up at the right time.

“We truly, truly have a group that’s all in,” Prager said. “It doesn’t matter where we have people on the field or in the dugout. Everyone is fighting for the common goal of wining the game.”

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…