GNAC - General News - Official site of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference

MAY 6, 2024

3 Teams In, WWU & NNU Host Softball Regionals

by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

INDIANAPOLIS – For the third time in the last five seasons, three Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball teams were selected to the NCAA West Region Championships, as the field was announced on Monday morning.

GNAC Championships winner Western Washington claimed the No. 1 seed and GNAC regular-season champion Northwest Nazarene claimed the No. 2 seed. Both programs will host four-team regionals, while Saint Martin’s earned the No. 7 seed and will take on NNU in the opening round of the regional in Nampa, Idaho. Western Washington will open up against No. 8 seed Azusa Pacific in the Bellingham regional.

This marks just the second time since the conference was founded in 2001-02 that a team has hosted a regional, and the first since then-Humboldt State hosted the event in 2004. The other two times the GNAC sent three teams to the regional tournament were in consecutive tournaments in 2021 and 2019 (no regional in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic).

Western Washington is fresh off its third GNAC Championships trophy, winning the event on Saturday to add to its 2017 and 2021 trophies. The Vikings are in the regional for the first time since 2021 and the fifth time overall since joining the conference as a founding member in 2001-02. WWU finished second in the GNAC regular-season standings at 19-5, and is 42-7 overall to set the program record for wins in a season.

The Nighthawks made it four years in a row getting to the regional championships, where they advanced to the title game a season ago falling 3-1 to Concordia-Irvine. Overall NNU has made it to four regional tournaments since 2018. The Nighthawks won their fourth straight GNAC regular-season title, going 20-4 in conference play to claim the crown. Ranked as high as No. 13 in the NFCA national poll this spring, NNU tied last year’s program record for wins in a season by going 39-10 thus far in 2024.

Saint Martin’s advanced to its first regional since the 2015 season and its third overall as a member of the GNAC. The Saints went 1-2 at the GNAC Championships over the weekend, after finishing third in the GNAC standings with a league record of 16-8. SMU went 26-20 overall in 2024.

2024 NCAA West Region Softball Championships

Viking Field | Bellingham, Wash. | Western Washington Host

May 9

Game 1 – No. 1 Western Washington vs. No. 8 Azusa Pacific - Noon (PT)

Game 2 – No. 4 Cal State San Marcos vs. No. 5 Cal State East Bay - 2:30 p.m. (PT)

May 10

Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 10 a.m. (PT)

Game 4 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (elimination) - 12:30 p.m. (PT)

Game 5 – Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (elimination) - 3 p.m. (PT)

May 11

Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 - Noon (PT)

Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) - 2:30 p.m. (PT)

Halle Field | Nampa, Idaho | Northwest Nazarene Host

May 9

Game 1 – No. 3 Concordia Irvine vs. No. 6 Cal State Dominguez Hills - 1:30 p.m. (MT)

Game 2 – No. 2 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 7 Saint Martin’s - 4 p.m. (MT)

May 10

Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 11 a.m. (MT)

Game 4 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (elimination) - 1:30 p.m. (MT)

Game 5 – Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (elimination) - 4 p.m. (MT)

May 11

Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 - 1:30 p.m. (MT)

Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) - 4 p.m. (MT)

The two winners of the four-team regionals will square off in a three-game super regional series, with the winner earning a spot in the NCAA Championships. The DII Women’s College World Series is set for May 19-25 in Longwood, Fla.