The NCAA News - News and Features

May 4, 1998

Division III Women's Softball

Defending champion Simpson features strikeout artist, top hitters

Event: 1998 Division III Women's Softball Championship.

Overview: Simpson hopes to repeat as champion of Division III softball. Top performers for the Storm include pitcher Kelly Schade. At 21-2, Schade has struck out 210 batters in 1541/3 innings. Schade has an 0.41 earned-run average and is only the fourth pitcher in Division III history to strike out at least 600 in a career. In 20 starts, Schade has thrown 19 complete games, and her 15 shutouts are tied for fourth on the national single-season shutout list. Schade has pitched four no-hitters this season. Dee Wischmeier is hitting .347 for the season and has 21 runs batted in. Michelle Fowler is hitting .443 for the Storm and sophomore shortstop Jenny Young is leading the team in hitting at .444 .... Attempting to steal the title from Simpson will be Webster. Tara Horn is leading the Gorloks with a .511 batting average. Katie Maynard is batting .448. Maynard and Horn both have tallied four home runs for the season. Pitcher Jeanne Zes is 12-1 with a 1.00 earned-run average .... Wisconsin-Whitewater wants to win one for the coach in its ninth appearance in the tournament. The Warhawks' head coach, Irv Madsen, will retire at the end of the season. Outfielder/catcher Sarah Kraus is on track to set the school record for season batting average. She is batting .529. Pitcher Laura Hering is tied for second in career wins (46), is fifth in strikeouts (121) and leads the league in victories. Valerie Kerkman is tied for sixth in career hits (125), ranks third in runs (99) and is third in the league in runs batted in. Outfielder Megan Kerkman is tied for third in the Wisconsin-Whitewater record books for runs scored in a season (33) ..... Other championship contenders include St. Mary's (Minnesota), Alma, Geneseo State, Daniel Webster and Fairleigh Dickinson-Madison.

Field: The championship has a field of 40 teams. Five teams will compete at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination format. Winners of the regionals will advance to an eight-team, double-elimination final. Nine conferences have been granted automatic qualification for the championship. All remaining teams will be selected on an at-large basis.

Dates and sites: Regional competition will be May 8-10 at on-campus sites. The eight-team final will be May 14-17 in Salem, Virginia.

Information/results: The NCAA Fax-on-Demand System will have regional and championship results. The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1480 for dates and sites, 1481 for bracket/schedule and 5187 for results. Scores from regional competition will be published in the May 18 issue of The NCAA News. Results from the finals will be in the May 25 issue.