North central rides pitching dominance of jessica siegel to win cciw title for seventh time

Thanks to the season-long dominant performance from senior pitcher Jessica Siegel, the North Central Cardinals won both the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin softball championship and the conference tournament. The Cardinals of head coach Jim Kulawiak also earned the CCIW’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament by virtue of winning the point total battle over defending champion Augustana.

North Central shrugged off a 1-0 loss to Wheaton in the second game of the CCIW season on April 7 and then romped through the rest of the schedule without a loss in league play. The Cardinals finished with an impressive sweep of Augustana on April 30 to finish 13-1 in the conference, two games ahead of the Vikings.

Siegel, who was named “Pitcher of the Year” in the CCIW, finished with a perfect 10-0 mark in the conference and had a 0.95 earned run average and 56 strikeouts in 80 2/3 inning of work. The Cardinals clinched the title on the final day of the conference regular season with two wins over Augustana and Siegel picked up the victory in both games.

That gave North Central the right to host the CCIW tournament and it took a come-from-behind extra inning victory over Augustana in the second championship game of the double elimination format to propel the Cardinals into the NCAA tournament.

Siegel, catcher Jackie Kay, first baseman Kristen Jarosik, third baseman Jenna Congdon and outfielder Jackie Nelson were first team all-conference selections for North Central, which finished the year 36-12 overall. The Cardinal coaching staff shared the conference’s “Coach of the Year” honor.