OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh women’s softball team clinched its second Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title in the last three years.
And the secret to the Titans’ success is what it’s always been: their pitching.
“We maybe overachieved a little bit, maybe played out of our shoes sometimes, but it was really cool to win it,” Titans head coach Scott Beyer said.
Beyer is in his 13th season at the helm of the program. After losing eight seniors to graduation, he admitted a WIAC title wasn’t the expectation coming into this season.
“It makes a little sweeter because there’s more doubters that probably didn’t think we could get to where we are right now,” he said.
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But when you recruit pitchers like Beyer does, it gives you a pretty good shot.
“I don’t know what the secret sauce is but we’ve had a pretty good run of pitchers here,” Beyer said.
The Titans’ pitching staff has the fourth-best ERA (1.41) in Division III. Their ace this season is Mishicot native freshman Kiran Sanford, who has a 1.31 ERA in 118 innings, which puts her in the top 30 for Division III.
“I expected her to log a bunch of innings, but to do what she’s done has been incredible,” Beyer said.
“Our defense works super hard," said Sanford. "Our offense works hard, so without them I really wouldn’t be much. So I want to give credit to them because my success doesn’t come without them."
Behind Sanford is junior Brianna Bougie, who has a 1.97 ERA, and sophomore Grace Nardi, who has a 1.41 ERA. Last week, Nardi threw back-to-back no-hitters against UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point.
“I guess I just found a groove and I mean, I didn’t have a lot of strikeouts, but shout out to my defense because they made a lot of great plays too,” Nardi said.
“No-hitters are already difficult to come by as is, but to have them game after game, you don’t see that often,” Bougie added.
Now, the Titans are hoping their pitching can take them far as they head to the NCAA tournament for the fourth year in a row. But first, they’re hosting the WIAC conference tournament this upcoming weekend and have a bye in the first round.
“Nothing is ever guaranteed, so it feels great to be in the tournament once again," Nardi said. "Put up another fight."
