OSHKOSH, Wis.- A clash of contrasting styles will be on display when UW-Oshkosh's combination of pitching, defense and timely hitting travels to Mississippi to take on host Belhaven University and its highly prolific offense during the NCAA Division III Softball Championship Jackson Super Regional on Thursday and Friday (May 21-22) at McLeod Field.
 
The best-of-three-game Jackson Super Regional begins with a single game at 2 p.m. Thursday. Action continues Friday with a contest at 1 p.m. and a second championship game, if necessary, at 3:30 p.m. The winner of the Jackson Super Regional will join seven other super regional victors at the World Series on May 28-June 3 in Salem, Va.
 
Oshkosh (33-8-1), ranked 15th in the country by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, features one of the nation's top defenses. The Titans, who won each of their three St. Louis Regional contests in low-scoring, one-run affairs, are third nationally in ERA (1.39); sixth in WHIP ratio (1.02), hits allowed per seven innings (5.17) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.83); and seventh in fielding percentage (.975) among the division's 393 programs.
 
Eighth-ranked Belhaven (40-10) paces the country in doubles (111) while listing sixth in runs batted in (327), seventh in hits (467) and walks (175), eighth in runs scored (360), ninth in home runs (38) and 10th in slugging percentage (.541). The Blazers secured their spot in the super regional round by winning three of four games as a first-time regional host.
 
Oshkosh, the No. 2 seed at the St. Louis Regional, opened the NCAA postseason with a 1-0, 12-inning victory over Illinois College. The Titans then downed host and No. 1 seed Washington University in St. Louis by 2-1 scores on both Friday and Saturday (May 15-16).
 
Jackson Regional No. 1 seed Belhaven punched its ticket to the super regional by winning its first two NCAA tournament matchups by scores of 8-2 over No. 4 seed Westminster College (Pa.) and 9-1 in five innings against No. 2 seed Emory University (Ga.) to reach the Saturday championship. After suffering a 15-7 setback to Emory in the first title game, the Blazers bounced back hours later with a 4-0 shutout of Emory to advance.
 
Super regional hosts were determined by the NCAA Power Index rankings and host bid submissions. Belhaven and Oshkosh rank 14th and 20th, respectively, in the NPI.
 
Trine defeated Virginia Wesleyan, two games to zero, during the 2025 Division III championship series.
 
Oshkosh, seeking its fourth World Series trip (1988, 2021, 2024), won a regional title for the fourth time in the last 10 years and the fifth time in program history. The Titans, making their third appearance in the super regional round, also claimed regional championships in 1988, 2017, 2021 and 2024. Oshkosh, the 2024 Angola (Ind.) Super Regional champion at Trine, owns a 33-26 record in 13 all-time NCAA trips.
 
Belhaven, the 2024 Division III runner-up to East Texas Baptist University, is attempting to return to the World Series for the second time. A member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics until joining Division III as a provisional member in 2016, the Blazers have appeared in each of the last six Division III softball tournaments since becoming postseason eligible in 2021. The Blazers, back in the super regionals for the fourth time (2022, 2023, 2024), sport a 21-13 record during the NCAA postseason.
 
Oshkosh and Belhaven have met just once previously. The Blazers swept a doubleheader from the Titans by scores of 2-1 and 5-4 on March 17, 2006, in Pensacola, Fla.
 
Oshkosh enters the Jackson Super Regional with a .280 batting average and scoring 4.14 runs per game. The Titans swept through their regional, outscoring opponents, 5-2, across 26 total innings. They did not commit an error at regionals and have played errorfree on 27 occasions this year.
 
The Titans, the WIAC regular season champion, garnered one of 22 at-large berths into the 64-team NCAA postseason field after falling in the league tournament semifinals. Oshkosh is 9-4 this year against programs that reached the NCAA tournament.
 
Kiran Sanford (Two Rivers/Mishicot), Grace Nardi (Marquette, Mich./Negaunee) and Brianna Bougie (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West) anchor a deep and talented Titans pitching staff that has produced 14 shutouts and limited opponents to a .205 batting average.
 
Sanford, the 2026 WIAC Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year, is 16-3 on the season with a 1.26 ERA, 0.92 WHIP ratio, six shutouts, a .207 opponent batting average and 168 strikeouts in 133.1 innings. Sanford was tabbed to the NFCA All-Region VIII First Team.
 
Nardi, a 2026 All-WIAC First Team selection, is 10-1 with four saves, a 1.30 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP ratio, a .179 opponent batting average and 81 strikeouts in 80.2 innings. She tossed back-to-back no-hitters against conference foes this year.
 
Bougie, the 2025 WIAC Pitcher of the Year, has produced a 7-4 record with four saves, a 1.76 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP ratio, a .223 opponent batting average and 63 strikeouts in 79.1 innings.
 
At the St. Louis Regional, the Oshkosh pitching trio combined to go 3-0 with a 0.54 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP ratio and 27 strikeouts in 26 innings.
 
Olivia Ullman (Denmark/Denmark) leads the Oshkosh offense with a .358 batting average, 49 hits, 32 runs scored, 11 doubles, three triples, 10 stolen bases, 67 total bases, a .489 slugging percentage and a .413 on-base percentage. Ullman was named to the All-WIAC First Team.
 
Olivia Baugnet (De Pere/De Pere) (.344) and Brianne Lopez (Volo, Ill./Grant Community) (.328) are also batting well above .300 for the Titans. Other Oshkosh offensive leaders include Mary Kate Quaid (Aurora, Ill./Oswego East) with four home runs and 23 RBIs and Amanda Martineck (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) also with 23 RBIs.
 
The Titans lineup features regulars Emma Bohn (Rosendale/Laconia), Sarah Hammerton (Appleton/Appleton West), Morgan Miller (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg), Haylie Wittman (Kaukauna/Kaukauna), Maddie Crick (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove), Kelly Selzer (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) and Kaelin Adair (Mishicot/Mishicot), who have each played at least 22 games on the year.
 
Bougie, Lopez and Quaid were all named to the All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team. Bougie and Nardi were voted to the St. Louis Regional All-Tournament Team while Wittman was the regional's Most Outstanding Player.
 
Belhaven, the Collegiate Conference of the South regular season champion, secured an automatic berth into the Division III Championship by clinching the CSS postseason crown despite losing its tournament opener as the top seeded Blazers stormed back to win five straight contests, including both title games over 13th-ranked Huntingdon College (Ala.).
 
The high-powered Blazers offense is batting .350 this season on the way to scoring 7.2 runs per game. Defensively, Belhaven sports a 2.56 ERA and a .963 fielding percentage.

Belhaven has a 13-6 record this season against teams that reached the NCAA postseason. Sixth-ranked East Texas Baptist held the Blazers scoreless during a doubleheader sweep, downing Belhaven by scores of 8-0 and 1-0 on Feb. 13. Belhaven also participated in the NFCA Leadoff Classic during March, going 2-2 against eventual NCAA postseason qualifiers in Georgia.
 
Oshkosh and Belhaven share one common opponent this season in Illinois Wesleyan University. The Blazers split a doubleheader at home against Illinois Wesleyan, taking the first game 4-3 before falling by a 5-4 score in the nightcap. Oshkosh split a pair of games at Illinois Wesleyan, suffering a 7-4 setback before bouncing back for a 1-0 victory a day later.
 
The deep, high octane Belhaven offense features eight lineup regulars hitting better than .310. The slugging Blazers have recorded just 12 sacrifice bunts all year.
 
Maryanna Guy headlines the Blazers with a .427 batting average, 64 hits, 16 doubles, 10 home runs, 54 RBIs, 112 total bases, a .747 slugging percentage and a .494 on-base percentage. She was named to the NFCA All-Region VI First Team and the All-CCS Second Team.
 
Belhaven's Melissa Lopera, who earned NFCA All-Region Third Team and All-CCS Second Team honors, is batting .395 with 40 runs scored, 12 doubles, five home runs and 36 RBIs.
 
Rounding out the Belhaven lineup are Kaleigh Steverson with a .388 batting average, Grace Langston at .371, Ellie Williamson .360, Liberty Gillihan .322, Reagan Bryan .321 and Lauren Dunbar .312.
 
Steverson, the lone Blazer position player on the All-CCS First Team, has 62 hits, 13 doubles, eight home runs, 41 RBIs, 101 total bases and a .631 slugging percentage. She was voted to the Jackson Regional All-Tournament Team.
 
Joining Steverson on the regional All-Tournament Team were Dunbar and Williamson. Dunbar has 12 doubles and three home runs this season while Williamson has collected 49 hits, 14 doubles, 34 runs scored and 30 RBIs.
 
Bryan, Gillihan, Langston, Williamson and Maddie Bruner each received All-CCS Second Team accolades this year. Bruner is batting .276 on the year with six home runs and a team-best four triples.
 
Blazers pitchers have combined for just four complete games this season. Macy Funderburk headlines the staff with an 18-5 record, one save, a 1.94 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP ratio and 113 strikeouts in 108.1 innings. Funderburk, who has started each of Belhaven's past nine games since April 30, was an All-CCS First Team pick and the Most Outstanding Player at the Jackson Regional.
 
Karley Rouse is 8-4 with two saves, a 3.07 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP ratio and 44 strikeouts in 91.1 innings. She has started a team-high 19 games on the year.
 
AR Sharp has a 9-0 record with two saves, a 2.95 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP ratio and 68 strikeouts in 64 innings. She was voted the CCS Rookie of the Year.
 
The Jackson Super Regional will mark Oshkosh's first foray to the Magnolia State in program history.
 
Belhaven's McLeod Field, built on the footprint of the university's former baseball facility, has an all-turf surface as part of a 2024 series of renovations that included new dugouts, padding on the outfield wall, and lights.