MOUNT PLEASANT – The Iowa Wesleyan College softball and baseball teams now know where they will be seeded and who they will be playing in the opening round of their respective Midwest Collegiate Conference tournaments this week.
The MCC released the softball tourney bracket on Tuesday, with William Penn University as the top seed while Iowa Wesleyan is the sixth seed. The conference will not release the baseball tournament bracket until after the final conference regular season games are completed Tuesday, but the Tigers have already clinched the third seed.
The Tiger softball team (20-28 overall) clinched the sixth seed in the MCC Tournament on Monday when Mount Mercy College and Clarke College cancelled their doubleheader due to weather conditions. As a result IWC finished one-half game ahead of Clarke in the conference standings, with the Tigers at 12-16 and the Crusaders at 12-17.
The conference softball tourney begins Wednesday and runs through Friday, and will be played at the Creekside Softball Complex in Coralville. Wesleyan will open the double-elimination event on Wednesday at 6 p.m. against fifth-seeded St. Ambrose University. The Queen Bees finished 13-15 in league play, one game ahead of the Tigers, and swept all four games against IWC this year.
The MCC has not released its baseball tournament bracket yet as of Tuesday, but the Iowa Wesleyan baseball team (27-20 overall) locked up the #3 seed in the conference baseball tournament on Monday when Viterbo (Wis.) University lost to Waldorf College in 12 innings. The Tigers’ 12-9 mark in league play will stand up to get the team a bye into the double-elimination portion of the conference tourney, as nearest competitors Viterbo and St. Ambrose cannot catch IWC.
The baseball tournament begins on Thursday and runs through Sunday at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo. The Tigers open the tourney on Friday at noon against the #2 seed Mount Mercy College. The Mustangs won two of three games between the two teams in the regular season. If IWC loses it will play again at 7 p.m. Friday night, while with a win the Tigers get the rest of the day off and will play Saturday at 2 p.m.
The winners of both the softball and baseball tourneys will receive the MCC’s automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships in their respective sports. Wesleyan will be going for its third straight conference baseball tournament title but this year will be facing stiffer competition for the championship. In recent years the top two teams in the regular season did not compete in the conference tournament and advanced directly to regional play, but the NAIA has eliminated regional tournaments, moving to a direct qualification model in which conference tournament winners advance straight to national tournament competition.
For more information regarding the IWC baseball program or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
MCC Softball Tournament Bracket
MCC Baseball Tournament Bracket
