Wolverines take field for more than
competitive softball schedule in 2015
The Capitol Athletic Conference (CAC) is one of the most challenging, if, possibly, not the toughest, softball league in the country. Consider just two CAC teams that the Wesley Wolverines must play four times in the season: Christopher Newport Captains and Salisbury Sea Gulls.
The Christopher Newport Captains (11-1 conference, 38-8 overall) have now made 8 straight post-regular-season NCAA appearances. Last year, the team finished 6th in the nation in the final Division III poll from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
CLICK HERE for the current NFCA national rankings polled from over 340 DIII teams in 46 conferences.
SEA GULLS VIE FOR NATIONAL TITLE
The Salisbury Sea Gulls (11-1 conference, 44-5 overall), however, were one of the last two teams still standing this past June 2014 in the NCAA playoffs for the national championship. It was the Sea Gulls who suited up for the final national title game in Tyler, Texas, where they lost 6-0 to the Tufts Jumbos. Salisbury has made back-to-back trips now, 2013 and 2014, to this championship game that determines the top DIII team in the country.
Salisbury might be considered Wesley College's biggest rival. The university is just 58.5 miles directly south of the Wesley campus on Delaware’s Route 13 leading into Maryland. The size of the undergraduate classes are sharply different: Salisbury enrolls 7,969 students versus Wesley's 1,386 undergrads, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The Wesley Wolverines football team has triumphed over Salisbury for 9 straight seasons. The softball record against the Sea Gulls is just the reverse of the gridiron feat, but our Wesley Wolverines always make a good showing.CLICK HERE for a blog post about the size of CAC schools based on student enrollments.
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In
last season's Salisbury game, Wolverine
Whitney Dibb led
the team with two hits
against otherwise dominant pitching of
the
Sea Gulls, who ranked #1 in the nation
(DIII) on the day of the game.
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Last year, when the Salisbury Sea Gulls arrived at DuPont Field on the Wesley campus, the Sea Gulls were ranked #1 in the nation. The Wolverines did not win, but neither were they intimidated and didn't disappoint, either.
On that day, sophomore #21 C/3B Whitney Dibb (La Mesa, CA) was perfect at the plate: 2-for-2 against topnotch pitching. Others contributing with the bat were junior #6 MI Breanna Hartman (Red Bank, NJ), sophomore #18 C/3B Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE), and senior #11 OF Brook Creighton (Rock Hall, MD).
Wolverine hurlers held up to the test, as well. Sophomore #9 P/OF Lily Engel (Dover, DE) allowed four earned runs in the first game, while sophomore #12 P/MI Lindsay Siok (Milford, DE) was even stingier, tossing just three earned runs in the second contest.
2015 SCHEDULE
This coming year Wesley Wolverines will play doubleheaders against the Sea Gulls on Wednesday, March 25, 2015, at Salisbury and take on the Captains at home on Wednesday, April 8, 2015.
Click the arrow below for a slideshow of Jose Marcano's 47 photos from last year's (2014's) Wesley versus Salisbury softball game...Click here for the blog post about the full 2015 Wesley Wolverine softball schedule.
