Mavs Close Season at Western Illinois
May 1, 2014 | Softball
The Omaha softball team heads to Macomb, Ill., this weekend for the final series of the season. The Mavericks will face Western Illinois on Friday in a 3 p.m. doubleheader and Saturday at Noon at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium. Live stats, audio and video (subscription required) will be available at OMavs.com.
The Mavericks
• Omaha (30-16, 9-6 Summit League) enters the final league series in fourth place in the conference standings, a half-game behind South Dakota for third. The Mavs have won nine of their last 10 and haven't played since last Saturday, as Wednesday's scheduled game against Drake was rained out.
• Junior center fielder Allie Mathewson hits .364 to lead the team. She has a team-high 25 extra-base hits, including 10 homers, two triples and 13 doubles. Mathewson has scored a team-best 41 runs and has 29 RBI from her leadoff spot.
• Amber Lutmer hits .352 and has a Summit League-best 16 home runs to go with 46 RBI and 37 runs. Lutmer is the school-record holder with 50 career home runs and ranks seventh among active Division I players in that category. Her 16 homers rank tied for 12th nationally and are the second-most in single-season UNO history. Lutmer is second in UNO history in career RBI with 178 and needs 15 to break the record.
• In addition to Mathewson and Lutmer, Sydney Hames hits .300 with one homer and 26 RBI. Campbell Ditto adds a .299 average with 10 homers and 33 RBI. Tara Trede hits .279, and Lizzie Noble is hitting .270 with six homers and 35 RBI. Freshman Lia Mancuso raised her average to .250 after going 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate in four games last week with a team-high .700 on-base percentage.
• Dana Elsasser is 24-7 this season with a 1.89 ERA. Elsasser has 11 shutouts and an opponent batting average of .199 and was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Cheyenne Baxter is 4-1 with a 3.78 ERA and .277 opponent batting average. Elsasser leads the Summit League in wins and ranks tied for ninth nationally. Her 68 career wins rank 26th among active Division I pitchers, and her career 1.43 earned-run average ranks sixth among active DI players. Elsasser has thrown 36 shutouts in her career, fifth-most among current DI pitchers.
• The top three home run hitters in the Summit League are all Mavericks. In addition to Lutmer's league-best 16 homers, Mathewson and Ditto each have 10. The Mavs lead the league with 50 home runs this season, third-most in school history. The most home runs in a season was 65 by the 2010 team. The 2003 team hit 54.
Scouting Western Illinois
Western Illinois is 18-23-1 overall and 4-10 in the Summit League, putting them in sixth place in the standings. Sammy Marshall, last year's Summit League Player of the Year, leads the conference with a .472 batting average and has 30 stolen bases in 37 attempts. She also has eight homers and 25 RBI, as well as a team-high 48 runs scored. Teagan Walsh hits .377, and Karissa Kouchis hits .325 for WIU. The Leathernecks have a balanced rotation with three pitchers starting 13, 14 and 15 games each.
Series History
UNO is 5-2 all-time against Western Illinois. The teams met earlier this season at the Auburn Tiger Invitational on Feb. 16, with the Mavs claiming an 11-7 win in eight innings.
Last Time Out
OMAHA, Neb. - Dana Elsasser turned in yet another shutout on Senior Day, as the Omaha softball team topped the IUPUI Jaguars, 5-0, on Saturday at Westside Field at Westbrook. The Mavericks improved to 30-16 overall and 9-5 in the Summit League with the win. IUPUI dropped to 20-19 and 7-7 in league play. Elsasser allowed six hits and no walks while striking out five in the 36th shutout of her career. IUPUI's Jocelyn Oppenhuis, who one-hit the Mavs on Friday, kept a shutout through three innings as well though. However, the Mavs made her throw 70 pitches through three innings, constantly making her work by extending at-bats. It finally paid off in the fourth inning, as pinch-hitter Bailey Schulenberg delivered a single to left field to score Lizzie Noble from second for a 1-0 lead. Noble doubled to left center in the fifth to score pinch-runner Megan Stegman from second, making it 2-0. UNO blew it open in the bottom of the sixth on Allie Mathewson's three-run homer, her 10th of the season. Mathewson was 3-for-4 with a homer, double, three RBI and a run. Amber Lutmer was 1-for-2 and drew two walks to add to her school-record career total, as she celebrated her Senior Day along with Elsasser. Lia Mancuso was 1-for-1 with a run and a triple to begin the three-run sixth inning. Schulenberg was 1-for-1 with her big RBI hit to break the scoreless deadlock.
Elsasser Nabs Third Summit League Pitching Honor and National Pitcher of the Week
Dana Elsasser was named College Sports Madness National Pitcher of the Week and Summit League Pitcher of the Week following her performance last week. The senior pitcher from Hershey, Neb., went 3-0 on the week with three complete-game shutouts and picked up her first career no-hitter in an 8-0 (5 inn.) win over North Dakota on Tuesday. In the no-hitter, Elsasser allowed two walks and struck out five. She recorded another five-inning shutout, this one a one-hitter, in an 8-0 (5 inn.) win over IUPUI on Friday, tossing four strikeouts with just one walk. Then on Senior Day on Saturday, Elsasser shut out the Jaguars once more, going 7.0 innings with six hits allowed and five strikeouts in a 5-0 win. For the week, Elsasser allowed just seven hits in 17.0 innings and struck out 14 while holding her opponents to a .127 batting average. Elsasser earned Co-Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 24 and March 10 as well this season.
The Mavericks
• Omaha (30-16, 9-6 Summit League) enters the final league series in fourth place in the conference standings, a half-game behind South Dakota for third. The Mavs have won nine of their last 10 and haven't played since last Saturday, as Wednesday's scheduled game against Drake was rained out.
• Junior center fielder Allie Mathewson hits .364 to lead the team. She has a team-high 25 extra-base hits, including 10 homers, two triples and 13 doubles. Mathewson has scored a team-best 41 runs and has 29 RBI from her leadoff spot.
• Amber Lutmer hits .352 and has a Summit League-best 16 home runs to go with 46 RBI and 37 runs. Lutmer is the school-record holder with 50 career home runs and ranks seventh among active Division I players in that category. Her 16 homers rank tied for 12th nationally and are the second-most in single-season UNO history. Lutmer is second in UNO history in career RBI with 178 and needs 15 to break the record.
• In addition to Mathewson and Lutmer, Sydney Hames hits .300 with one homer and 26 RBI. Campbell Ditto adds a .299 average with 10 homers and 33 RBI. Tara Trede hits .279, and Lizzie Noble is hitting .270 with six homers and 35 RBI. Freshman Lia Mancuso raised her average to .250 after going 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate in four games last week with a team-high .700 on-base percentage.
• Dana Elsasser is 24-7 this season with a 1.89 ERA. Elsasser has 11 shutouts and an opponent batting average of .199 and was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Cheyenne Baxter is 4-1 with a 3.78 ERA and .277 opponent batting average. Elsasser leads the Summit League in wins and ranks tied for ninth nationally. Her 68 career wins rank 26th among active Division I pitchers, and her career 1.43 earned-run average ranks sixth among active DI players. Elsasser has thrown 36 shutouts in her career, fifth-most among current DI pitchers.
• The top three home run hitters in the Summit League are all Mavericks. In addition to Lutmer's league-best 16 homers, Mathewson and Ditto each have 10. The Mavs lead the league with 50 home runs this season, third-most in school history. The most home runs in a season was 65 by the 2010 team. The 2003 team hit 54.
Scouting Western Illinois
Western Illinois is 18-23-1 overall and 4-10 in the Summit League, putting them in sixth place in the standings. Sammy Marshall, last year's Summit League Player of the Year, leads the conference with a .472 batting average and has 30 stolen bases in 37 attempts. She also has eight homers and 25 RBI, as well as a team-high 48 runs scored. Teagan Walsh hits .377, and Karissa Kouchis hits .325 for WIU. The Leathernecks have a balanced rotation with three pitchers starting 13, 14 and 15 games each.
Series History
UNO is 5-2 all-time against Western Illinois. The teams met earlier this season at the Auburn Tiger Invitational on Feb. 16, with the Mavs claiming an 11-7 win in eight innings.
Last Time Out
OMAHA, Neb. - Dana Elsasser turned in yet another shutout on Senior Day, as the Omaha softball team topped the IUPUI Jaguars, 5-0, on Saturday at Westside Field at Westbrook. The Mavericks improved to 30-16 overall and 9-5 in the Summit League with the win. IUPUI dropped to 20-19 and 7-7 in league play. Elsasser allowed six hits and no walks while striking out five in the 36th shutout of her career. IUPUI's Jocelyn Oppenhuis, who one-hit the Mavs on Friday, kept a shutout through three innings as well though. However, the Mavs made her throw 70 pitches through three innings, constantly making her work by extending at-bats. It finally paid off in the fourth inning, as pinch-hitter Bailey Schulenberg delivered a single to left field to score Lizzie Noble from second for a 1-0 lead. Noble doubled to left center in the fifth to score pinch-runner Megan Stegman from second, making it 2-0. UNO blew it open in the bottom of the sixth on Allie Mathewson's three-run homer, her 10th of the season. Mathewson was 3-for-4 with a homer, double, three RBI and a run. Amber Lutmer was 1-for-2 and drew two walks to add to her school-record career total, as she celebrated her Senior Day along with Elsasser. Lia Mancuso was 1-for-1 with a run and a triple to begin the three-run sixth inning. Schulenberg was 1-for-1 with her big RBI hit to break the scoreless deadlock.
Elsasser Nabs Third Summit League Pitching Honor and National Pitcher of the Week
Dana Elsasser was named College Sports Madness National Pitcher of the Week and Summit League Pitcher of the Week following her performance last week. The senior pitcher from Hershey, Neb., went 3-0 on the week with three complete-game shutouts and picked up her first career no-hitter in an 8-0 (5 inn.) win over North Dakota on Tuesday. In the no-hitter, Elsasser allowed two walks and struck out five. She recorded another five-inning shutout, this one a one-hitter, in an 8-0 (5 inn.) win over IUPUI on Friday, tossing four strikeouts with just one walk. Then on Senior Day on Saturday, Elsasser shut out the Jaguars once more, going 7.0 innings with six hits allowed and five strikeouts in a 5-0 win. For the week, Elsasser allowed just seven hits in 17.0 innings and struck out 14 while holding her opponents to a .127 batting average. Elsasser earned Co-Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 24 and March 10 as well this season.
Players Mentioned
RHP
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C
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IF
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OF
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OF
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OF/RHP
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OF
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C/OF
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IF
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Friday, August 21
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