Olivia Johnson

DePauw Championship Central | NCAC Championship Central

This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster softball team (25-11, 11-4 NCAC) earned the No. 2 seed in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament and will face No. 3 seed Denison University (20-12, 11-5 NCAC) in game 1 of the first round at 10 a.m. Friday. The double-elimination tournament will be played at top seeded DePauw University (28-12, 16-0 NCAC) in Greencastle, Ind. The Tigers will play their first-round matchup against No. 4 seed Kenyon College (22-18, 9-7 NCAC) in game 2 at approximately 12:30 p.m. The tournament will continue with the winners of the days' first two games in a 3 p.m. game 3, while the losers of the opening-round games will play in game 4 at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, game 5 will feature the game 4 winner and game 3 loser at 11 a.m., before culminating in the championship games starting at 1:30 p.m. If the game 5 winner were to win game 6, a game 7 would be played at 4 p.m.

Media Coverage: Fans can follow the action at through the available live stream and live results webpages. The DePauw Championship Central page provides the available links for each game. Fans can also follow the track & field team's Twitter account @COWSoftball for updates throughout the championship. 

Ticket Information: One-day admission for adults is $7 and $3 for children 18 and under. Students of NCAC member institutions are admitted for free with a school ID. No discounts or senior prices are given at any NCAC Championship event.

NCAC Tournament History: Since the inception of the NCAC Softball Tournament in 2001, Denison has claimed six tournament titles. Allegheny and DePauw have four each, while Hiram and Wittenberg have each claimed two titles. DePauw has won four of the last five including last year's when they entered as the No. 3 seed. This will be Wooster's sixth appearance in the tournament and their first since 2017.

How We Got Here: On their way to a second seed in the NCAC Tournament, the Scots tied the single-season program record with 25 wins. They opened the season in Florida trading wins in their first seven games before concluding the trip with a five-game win streak and an 8-4 start on the season. Back in Ohio, they lost their next three games but then embarked on a 12-game win streak that set a new program record.

The DePauw, Denison and Kenyon matchups: In the regular season, Wooster went 3-3 against the likes of their opponents in the NCAC Tournament. They swept Kenyon (7-5, 7-2) split with Denison (3-2 W, 2-1 L) and were swept by DePauw (3-1, 2-0). 

Pitching Leads the Way: Against conference opponents Wooster is second with a 1.48 ERA, but if you widen the spectrum to the overall season Wooster leads the way at a 2.03 ERA. The Scots are led by their two sophomore pitchers in Olivia Johnson and Marissa Norgrove, who respectively have the two lowest ERAs in the conference. Johnson enters with 15-4 record and a 1.73 ERA with 115 strikeouts, 13 complete games and one save. Norgrove is 7-6 on the year with a 1.98 ERA. She has pitched five complete games with 30 strikeouts and one save. Johnson has appeared in 26 games to Norgrove's 20. First-year Katie Agatucci has only appeared in eight games but did log a no-hitter in the team's 10-1 (5 inn.) win over John Carroll University. It was the program's eighth all-time.

Hitting with Power: Wooster is tied for first in the conference with 17 home runs, but their .312 average ties them for fifth among conference teams. Heidi Likins' team-leading six home runs ties her for third in the conference, but she is seeking her first home run since April 9. Molly Likins and Marina Roski are tied for second on the team with three each. Roski, who broke the career home run record earlier in the year, has been hot as of late, finishing last week with a .615 average (8-of-13) with one homer and seven RBI. 

Top of the Lineup Success: Sophomore Emmalee Cooke has been doing her job this season as the leadoff hitter. She is fourth in the conference in batting average and slashes a line of .402/.449/.541. If the season were to end today her .409 average would rank sixth for highest in a single-season. The sophomore also has drawn 10 walks and leads the team with 30 runs scored, 12 doubles and four stolen bases.

Record Watching: Cooke needs three more runs to tie the single season record for runs scored. Johnson needs three wins to match Natalie Barone's 18 which she set in 2005. Chelsea Copley's 148 games played in her career has her four away from tying the games played record.