- Elementary Education
- Class of 2017
- Aurora, Ill.
Aurora's Smoczynski Part of WIAC Tournament Title, NCAA Bid for UW-Whitewater Softball
2017 May 9
Cara Smoczynski, a native of Aurora, IL, and graduate of Rosary High School, is a member of the No. 9 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team, which won its fifth straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title over the weekend and will host a regional round of the NCAA Division III Championship this Thursday through Saturday at van Steenderen Softball Complex.
With a 5-0 triumph over No. 23 UW-La Crosse in the title game of the tournament on Saturday in Whitewater, the Warhawks (36-7 overall) clinched the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship and will make their 20th appearance in the national tournament.
The tournament title was UW-Whitewater's ninth overall and seventh under head coach Brenda Volk. The Warhawks have now won 13 straight games entering the NCAA Tournament.
UW-Whitewater was the WIAC Championship's top seed after finishing with a perfect 14-0 record and claiming the conference regular season championship for the 11th time in program history and third time in the last four years.
The Warhawks will face Hope (Mich.), a Pool C or at-large qualifier, to open play Thursday at 3:30 p.m.. The other game, which will start the day at 1 p.m., will feature a pair of automatic qualifiers in No. 14 Trine (Ind.) and Greenville (Ill.).
Smoczynski, a senior at UW-Whitewater, is majoring in elementary education.