By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

NAMPA, Idaho – Brilliant pitching performances by Chloe Leverington of Saint Martin’s and Monica Bourque of Simon Fraser told the story in the opening game of the 2025 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Softball Championships, with the No. 2 seed Saints emerging 2-1 over the third-seed Red Leafs at Northwest Nazarene’s Halle Field.
 
Leverington allowed just one run on six hits with five strikeouts, going the distance to collect her conference-leading 19th win of the season. SMU’s Amanda Peterson came through with the game-winning hit in the bottom of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie and put her team ahead for good. “I knew coming in it was going to be a close game, that I was going to have to work hard and trust my defense,” said Leverington, a first-team all-conference pick. “We were moving it around each at-bat, getting different outs and trusting my defense with ground balls and pop flies. They did great hitting to back me up too.”
 
Bourque was equally as impressive, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and doing everything in her power to give her team a chance to win the game. The second-team all-conference selection finished with eight strikeouts against four walks, two runs and two hits allowed in six innings of work. “We have so much confidence in Monica and know when she’s at her best she can compete with any team here and keep hitters at bay,” said SFU head coach Stacy Fournier. “She did that again for us today and gave us a chance to win. She is a competitor and was ready for her first postseason game, which was fun to watch.”
 
SMU (32-12) advances to Friday’s semifinal game, where it will face the winner of No. 4 seed Montana State Billings and No. 1 seed Western Washington at 10 a.m. (Mountain). The Red Leafs (22-24) will take on the loser of the other game on Thursday in an elimination game scheduled for 12:30 p.m. (Mountain) on Friday afternoon. “That is a really close, tough game, and it is playoff-caliber softball,” said eighth-year SMU head coach Jim Peterson. “Having Chloe in the circle gives the rest of our team confidence. She threw really good today, and when we needed a key run we got a hit from Amanda Peterson out there. That was huge, and gave us the win.”
 
Leverington was locked in from the start, retiring the side in order in the top of the first with a pair of strikeouts. On a day she threw a first-pitch strike to 19 of the 27 batters she faced, the senior shrugged off a second-inning infield single and kept the Red Leaf bats quiet.
 
Ashley Goodale set the tone for the Saints, drawing a nine-pitch walk to start the game in what played out as a stressful first inning for SFU’s Bourque. The sophomore right-hander did well to limit the damage to a single run, working around three walks and a hit batter and needing 38 pitches to close the frame. “When we get her on the bases she has great speed out there, and that helped us getting a run early,” Peterson said on the first-inning rally.
 
SFU’s Erin Murphy broke the GNAC single-season record for stolen bases after a two-out single in the third inning, swiping her 44th bag of the year. That topped the 2023 record of 43, set by former Red Leaf and GNAC career stolen base leader Megan Duclos. Her steal put the tying run into scoring position, but Leverington stranded the runner with a harmless fly ball to right-center to put up her third consecutive zero.
 
Leverington continued to cruise in the top of the fourth, shaking off a leadoff single by Abby McGlynn and retiring the next three hitters she faced. The 6-foot senior used every inch of her frame to reach up and snag a sharp line drive off the bat of Janique Balcaen on a ball that was destined for the grass in center field.
 
The Red Leafs finally broke through in the top of the sixth inning, when McGlynn laced a one-out, RBI-double into the left-center gap that allowed Grace McMillan to score from first. Leverington kept the score tied at 1-1, as she retired each of the next two hitters to strand McMillan, the go-ahead run, at third base.
 
Bourque retired 13 straight hitters after the first-inning jam, up until GNAC co-Player of the Year Heather Ebner broke up the no-hitter in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff single. After Lawson stole her second base of the game, Peterson delivered a go-ahead, RBI-single to right field to put the Saints in front 2-1. “Right after the game I told Shelby – that was one of the biggest plays of the game to get her into scoring position,” Peterson said on Lawson’s key steal. “If we don’t get her to second that run may not score, so that was big.”
 
 
The Red Leafs didn’t go down easily, as Rae Bates punched a one-out single into left field to put the tying run on base once again in the top of the seventh inning. Goodale followed with the defensive play of the day, lunging to her back-hand side to take away a hit from SFU’s Lauren Lugtigheid that would have put two runners on with only one out. Leverington ended the game with a routine flyout to left field, and embraced her fellow senior, catcher Kekai Schultz, in celebration of the victory. “That was a great diving catch she made, and that was a huge play for us defensively,” Peterson said.
 
No stranger to playoff competition, Leverington made her seventh-career appearance at the GNAC Championships on Thursday. She secured her third-career win in the tournament and has 17 strikeouts in 33 career innings pitched at the conference tournament. “A saying on our team is that playoff-caliber softball is a different feel and a different intensity,” said Leverington. “It is my fourth year pitching at this tournament, and I try to bring that playoff caliber intensity to my team. We have other experienced players like Kekai, who has caught almost every single one of my GNAC innings. All of us together were able to bring that intensity.”
 
SFU’s McGlynn was the only player in the game with multiple hits, with each team leaving five runners on base.
 
 
GAME NOTES: SMU moved ahead 4-3 in the season series between the teams…Lawson’s two stolen bases upped her career total to 33…Murphy entered the day ranked sixth in Division II softball in stolen bases this season, with the national leader at 50.
 
Head-to-head at GNAC Championships: SMU 3-1
All three previous meetings were in 2013; SMU won in the semis, SFU won the first championship game and SMU claimed the if-game for the title.
 
Saint Martin’s at the GNAC Championships
Tournament Wins: 1 (2015)
Appearances: 10 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
 
Simon Fraser at the GNAC Championships
Tournament Wins: 0
Appearances: 3 (2013, 2018, 2025)