The release of the 2009 Midwest Conference Softball All-Conference Teams and annual awards winners feature St. Norbert nearly sweeping the league’s North Division annual awards after winning the school's third Championship over the weekend. Junior catcher/outfielder Brieanne Oehlke was named the MWC North Player of the Year which she will share with Lawrence sophomore first baseman Carli Gurholt, the only non-Green Knight to win an award. Sophomore Kayla Krueger (right) was tabbed as the North’s Pitcher of the Year, while her mother, Head Coach JoAnn Krueger (left), wins Coach of the Year.

Lake Forest junior shortstop Tracy Rainey and Monmouth senior Sarah Christensen were named the 2009 MWC South Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, while Rainey’s skipper Joe Kinsella was named the division’s Coach of the Year after leading the Foresters to their fourth consecutive South Division title.

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The St. Norbert softball team’s season came to an end on Friday, May 8 as the Green Knights fell to Concordia (WI) 6-3 in the elimination round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The contest unfolded on the Illinois Wesleyan campus in Bloomington, Ill.

The Falcons got on the board first with a one-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, but St. Norbert would tack on a run in both the second and third, highlighted by MWC North Division Player of the Year Brieanne Oehlke's solo homer. Concordia brought two more runners across the plate in the bottom half of the third and added another in the fourth. The Green Knights would cut the score to 5-3 off an RBI ground-out by Kristin Zimmerman, but the Falcons answered back in the latter part of the sixth inning, adding the game's final run.

Five different players made up St. Norbert's five hits while Oehlke, Zimmerman, and Kayla Krueger tallied the Green Knights' three RBI's.

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In its first round match-up of the NCAA Softball Tournament, St. Norbert was downed 1-0 by regional host Illinois Wesleyan. Although sophomore Kayla Krueger gave up only one run in six innings, the Green Knight offense was unable to get anything going against the Titans' Christy Engle, who threw a complete game no-hitter while also striking out 11. Krueger's only blemish of the game came after Engle hit a double and then scored after another double by the very next batter. St. Norbert threatened in the top of the fourth with two runners on (via walks) and one-out, but Engle was able to get out the jam.

The Green Knights will now play Concordia (WI) in an elimination game tomorrow at 10 a.m. The Falcons lost to Alma 4-1 earlier in the day.

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De Pere, Wis. - St. Norbert College's softball team will head to Bloomington, Ill., for their NCAA Division III Regional Tournament at the Illinois Wesleyan University Softball Field.

The Green Knights (17-17) will open the regional at 2 p.m. Thursday against the host Titans (34-4). St. Norbert is the seventh seeding in the seven-team, double-elimination tournament. Illinois Wesleyan is the second seeding.

Defending national runner-up UW-Whitewater (36-5) is the No. 1 seeding. The Warhawks will face the loser of No. 4-seeding UW-Eau Claire (27-14) and No. 5-seeding Coe College (34-10). Eau Claire is the defending national champion.

In its second game, St. Norbert will face either the winner or loser of No. 3-seeding Alma College (27-11) and No. 6-seeding Concordia University of Wisconsin (24-21). That game would be at either 10 a.m. or Noon on Friday.

Directions and the live stats for all regional games can be found via the regional home page.

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St. Norbert has kept its season alive, capturing the 2009 Midwest Conference Softball Championship. The Green Knights defeated Lake Forest 6-5 to earn its berth into the title game and then downed host Ripon 8-6 and 5-4 in back-to-back games. The Red Hawks had won the previouis day's match-up 5-2, but when needed, the Green Knights' bats exploded for three home runs in the final two games en route to the school's third title and Head Coach JoAnn Krueger's (right) second. St. Norbert receives the conference’s automatic qualifier to the 2009 NCAA Tournament and will find out their regional seed and location on Monday morning (May 4).

Although the Green Knights' offense posted 29 runs in five games, the constant of the Tournament was pitcher Kayla Krueger (left). Krueger pitched in every game and at nearly every crucial point of the Tournament as the head coaches' daughter went 2-1 with a save over the weekend. The sophomore gave up only 24 hits in 24.2 innings - giving up 13 runs (8 earned) while striking out seven and allowing just one base on balls.

St. Norbert 5, Ripon 4 - The final and deciding game fittingly came down to the seventh inning and a crucial call to help decide the 2009 Midwest Conference Champion. Trailing 5-3 in the top of the seventh, Ripon put two runners on with two outs against St. Norbert's Kayla Krueger. After an RBI single from the Red Hawks, Andrea Knorr tried to take home on a groud ball, but was thrown out by first baseman Kristin Zimmerman. After an appeal from Ripon, the umpires discussed the call, but still ruled the runner out. The Red Hawks would then ground into the final out with the tying run on third. Leading the Green Knights to their third title was Brieanne Oehlke (right). The junior catcher went 2-for-3 from the dish with two home runs and three RBI's in possibly the best individual performance of the Tournament. Ripon's Britnee Peotter (10-6) struck out 10 in the loss while St. Norbert's Kari Corbeille (1-3) picked up her first win of the season in her first appearance of the Tournament. Krueger earned her first save of the season as well.

St. Norbert 8, Ripon 6 - With their backs against the wall, the St. Norbert softball team kept its title hopes alive. Getting ahead early, Ripon put up fours runs in the first with three coming off of an Alli Jensen home run. The Green Knights answered back with three in the bottom of the second as Jessica Kropp's single down the left field line drove in a pair. Each team added another run in the fourth inning, with St. Norbert scoring again in the fifth followed by Collette Ullmer's (right) three-run home run, giving the Green Knights an 8-5 advantage. The Red Hawks threatened in the ninth inning with a run scored and two runners on, but Kayla Krueger (10-8) managed to pitch out of the jam for the win. Krueger dealt 6.2 strong innings giving up two runs (one earned). Ripon was led by Jensen who went 1-for-3 with three RBI's and a run scored.

St. Norbert 6, Lake Forest 5 - In thrilling fashion, St. Norbert held off Lake Forest in its bid for a seventh MWC Softball Championship. Already ahead 1-0, the Foresters opened up the game scoring two runs in the third inning off of of the Green Knights' ace Kayla Krueger, who was starting her third game in two days. After a pitching change, Lake Forest added another run off of Jessica Kropp (credited to Krueger), but St. Norbert countered in the bottom half of the inning with a run of its own. The Green Knights' Tracy Palmer brought in another two runs with a double in the fourth while teammate Collette Ullmer (right) hit a solo home run in the sixth to bring the score to 5-4, setting herself up for the game-winning heroics. Krueger singled to start the bottom of the seventh, followed by an error to put runners on first and third. Following an out via fielder's choice, Kristin Zimmerman knocked in the tying run, and the next batter, Ullmer, hit the walk-off single, putting St, Norbert in its second championship game in three years. The Foresters were led by Norton who finished 3-for-4 with two RBI's and a run scored. After giving up an RBI single to Mallory Norton in the top of the fourth, Kropp (6-6) settled down to pitch three scoreless innings, earning the victory in her first Tournament appearance.

Ripon 5, St. Norbert 2 - In a pitching duel between Ripon's Britnee Peotter (10-5) and St. Norbert's Kayla Krueger (9-8), the Red Hawks came out victorious due to four errors by the Green Knight defense in the top of the seventh. Ripon, who was the away team for the contest, put the first run on the board early thanks to a two-out RBI single by Meaghan Boswell in the top of the second. The next four innings went scoreless until Krueger singled home a run, and was then brought in with a double by Brieanne Oehlke, giving St. Norbert a 2-1 advantage. The next inning was one that the Green Knights would like to have back. The Red Hawks' Andrea Knorr reached base off of a fielding error and after the next batter struck out, another error occurred on what could have been a game-ending double play. After a game-tying RBI double by Abby Richeson that put runners at second and third, a throwing error to home plate put Ripon up 3-2 before game two hero Kylie Ainslie singled in two more insurance runs. St. Norbert threatened in the bottom half of the inning loading the bases on a walk, error, and single before Knorr entered for the save. Peotter (right) pitched 6.2 innings giving up two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts, while her counterpart, Krueger, worked seven impressive innings in the loss giving up five runs (one earned) on five hits with two strikeouts.

Lake Forest 17, Monmouth 8 - Offense was the story of Game Three as Lake Forest and Monmouth pounded out 31 hits in only six innings of play. The Fighting Scots got on the board first with an RBI triple by Brittany Forney in the bottom of the first, but that lead would not last long as the Foresters put up nine runs on six hits in the following inning, highlighted by a three-run home run by Danielle Gore and a two-run round tripper by Tracy Rainey (right). Monmouth added three runs in the bottom half of the second, but it seemed each time it scored, Lake Forest had an answer as the Foresters put three of their own on the board in the third. The Fighting Scots added four more runs in the next two innings to cut the score to 12-8, but they would get no closer as Lake Forest knocked in five runs in the top halves of the fifth and sixth innings. Rainey proved to be the catalyst of the Foresters' offense going 4-for-5 with five RBI's and three runs scored while Morgan Seiler paced Monmouth with three hits and two runs scored.

Ripon 7, Monmouth 6 (10 inn.) - In a battle of clutch hits, Ripon managed to squeeze out a 10-inning victory in front of its home crowd. Trailing 4-2 in the top of the seventh, Monmouth's Lauren Bergstresser had an RBI single with the bases loaded to put them within one. After the Red Hawks' Britnee Peotter struck out the next batter, a wild pitch brought home the tying the run. With no outs in the top of the ninth, the Fighting Scots loaded the bases. Peotter responded by getting out the next two batters, but Morgan Seiler singled home two runs, putting Monmouth ahead 6-4. In the bottom half on the inning and with two runners on, reigning two-time North Division Player of the Year Natalie Geenen doubled home a run. After Ripon was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice, Jackie Reichhart's two-out RBI single tied the game. After a scoreless top of the tenth, the Red Hawks' Kylie Ainslie (right) brought home the winning run on a bases loaded, one-out RBI single. The Fighting Scots were led by Seiler's two RBI's while all of Ripon's seven runs were driven in by a different player.

St. Norbert 8, Lake Forest 1 - Pitching dominated the first four innings of the game until St. Norbert's bats came alive in the fifth, ending Lake Forest's Jeannette Andresen's no-hitter. The Green Knights' Brieanne Oehlke started the inning off with a single, and two batters later, Collette Ullmer pulled one over the left field fence to break the tie 2-0. St. Norbert would tack on a third run that inning, one in the sixth, and four more in the seventh as pitcher Kayla Krueger (9-7) (right) turned in an impressive complete game performance. The sophomore and daughter of Head Coach JoAnn Krueger gave up just one run on four hits with no walks. Nine Green Knights recorded a hit in the game, while six also finished with an RBI. The Foresters were led by All-MWC shortstop Tracy Rainey who went 2-for-3 and scored the team's only run in the seventh.

The 2009 Midwest Conference Softball Championship Tournament is set to open up this Saturday, May 1 and run through Sunday, May 2 on the Ripon College campus in Ripon, Wis. Although this marks the first time the Red Hawks have hosted, there will be plenty of familiar faces as all four participating teams took place in the 2008 Tournament. Ripon won its first Championship last year and followed that in 2009 by posting the best MWC record (12-1) in program history. In their fourth consecutive tournament appearance, the Red Hawks enter as the North’s No. 1 seed and will match-up with the South’s No. 2 seed in Monmouth. The Fighting Scots have lost seven of their last nine, but will try to avenge a 4-3 loss to Ripon in the MWC Classic. No. 1 South seed Lake Forest has qualified for its tenth consecutive tourney and will meet No. 2 North seed St. Norbert, who is appearing for the third consecutive season. The Foresters won the only match-up between the two this year, besting the Green Knights 9-0 during the MWC Classic.

After the 2008 version was rained out, the women of the Midwest Conference’s North and South Division softball squads will all be sharing the diamond at this weekend’s annual MWC Softball Classic. The cross-divisional play begins with four rounds of games taking place on Saturday, April18th and wraps up with the final three rounds on Sunday, April 19th. All games will take place at Dawson Park located in Janesville, Wisconsin.