WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Past history has not been kind to the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team in its series against Illinois Wesleyan University, which it meets in an elimination game of the 2019 NCAA Division III softball tournament Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET at Suddenlink Field on the campus of tournament host University of Texas at Tyler.

The eighth-seeded Warriors (35-12) are hoping that future history is kinder when they square off against the second-seeded Titans (33-16) in the second of two elimination games on the tournament's third day. A loss will mark the end of the season for one team, while the winner continues an uphill struggle in a quest for the national title.

Play on Saturday pares an original field of eight teams in half – two of the teams with one loss in the double-elimination tournament and two – third-seeded Emory University and fourth-seeded Texas Lutheran University – the lone remaining unbeatens.

The Eastern-Illinois Wesleyan winner will enjoy at least one more 80 degree day in east-central Texas, and is scheduled to face Emory Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The winner of Saturday's first elimination game between seventh-seeded Trinity University and fifth-seeded Williams College must contend with Texas Lutheran in Sunday's first game at 1 p.m. ET.

Eastern is coming off its first loss Friday night against Texas Lutheran, where it battled back from four runs down to put the winning run on first in the bottom of the seventh only to lose, 7-6. The Titans were upset by Trine in Thursday's opener – in a game where junior first-team All-America pitcher Ally Wiegand yielded only two hits in the loss. The Titans, however, lived to see another day when they scored three runs in the top of the first and went on to a 5-3 victory over sixth-seeded Randolph-Macon College Friday. Wiegand was lifted in that game after giving up four hits and two runs in two innings, and junior Brea Walker shut down the Yellow Jackets on five hits and one run the rest of the way to gain the win.

The Warriors are counting on a change of zip code to change their luck against the Titans, where Eastern is 0-4 against Illinois Wesleyan during early-season games played down south beginning in 2001. In the most recent meeting at the NFCA Hall of Fame Classic on the opening weekend of the 2016 season at Columbus, GA, Eastern lost, 8-2 during a 1-4 trip against national-caliber competition.

At left: If all goes well, Sabrina LeMere and the Warriors are hoping to see a win in their very near future.

For Eastern, no players remain who saw action against the Titans in that game, but IWU returns two starting players from that contest: senior third baseman Julie Josten and senior outfielder and leadoff hitter Jillian Runyon, both of whom were freshmen in 2016. Runyon had three hits – including a solo home run – and scored three runs, while Josten, batting ninth, walked twice and scored twice. Each bats in the same spot in the order this year.

While Eastern has four NCAA titles and an AIAW national crown to its credit, Illinois Wesleyan is seeking its first championship. The Titans stand a win away from their second 40-win season under third-year head coach Tiffany Prager. In the last eight years – including 2019 – IWU has averaged nearly 37 wins per season.

Like Eastern, Illinois began its program in 1977 and has posted 13 seasons of at least 30 wins. Prager is the program's fourth coach in the last 14 years.

Wiegand is 23-4 with four saves, a 0.50 ERA, 260 strikeouts and seven walks in 182 innings over 33 appearances this year. Walker is 15-4 with a 1.49 ERA. Eastern sophomore righty Morgan Bolduk (Vernon), a third-team All-America, and like Wiegand her conference's Pitcher-of-the-Year, had a personal ten-game winning streak stopped Friday against Texas Lutheran. She is 21-2 with a 1.19 in 30 appearances, with nine shutouts, 113 strikeouts and 21 walks in 153 innings. Wiegand and Bolduk are their respective team's only All-Americas, Wiegand earning the award each of the last two years.

Wiegand entered the nationals ranked first nationally in ERA, least hits per game, and strikeout-to-walk ratio, was second in least walks per game and fourth in strikeouts per game. Bolduk was seventh in ERA and seventh in shutouts.

Both teams regularly start two freshmen in their lineup: third baseman Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) and first baseman Brooke Matyasovsky (East Haven) for Eastern and first baseman Colleen Palczynski and catcher Hayley Earl for Wesleyan. Like Texas Lutheran, three left-handed bats top the Wesleyan lineup in Runyon (who is a switch-hitter), righfielder Mia Massaro and shortstop Sam Berghoff. Against Bolduk and Sanson, the Texas Lutheran lefties were 2-of-11 with an RBI and a run scored. In Friday's victory over Randolph-Macon, those lefties combined for seven of their team's nine hits with a double, scored three runs and drove in three, and stole two bases. Runyon reached four times with three singles and a walk and scored twice. In the team's three-run first, Berghoff drove in Runyon and Massaro with a single and later scored the third run on a throwing error by the R-M catcher.

In Eastern's two games in Tyler, junior centerfielder Sabrina LeMere (North Branford) has five hits, scored twice and drove in two runs, while SanGiovanni has three doubles among her four hits with a run scored and RBI. They are the only players with more than two hits.

In seven NCAA post-season games (six wins), LeMere is batting .476 (10-of-21) with four doubles, four RBI and three runs scored; Bolduk has reached 11 times and is at .333 (8-of-24) with six RBI and five runs scored. On the mound, Bolduk is 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 44 1/3 innings while junior lefty Morgan Sanson (Thomaston) pitched 4 2/3 stellar innings in relief of Bolduk Friday, allowing only one hit and one run. It was her first appearance in nearly a month.