By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

NAMPA, Idaho – Both No. 9 Western Washington and Saint Martin’s scored five times in a hectic first inning on Friday morning at Halle Field, with the Vikings rallying to overcome an early deficit and claim a 10-6 victory in the semifinals of the 2025 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Softball Championships.
 
The Vikings appeared unfazed by allowing five runs in the top of the first, storming back to even the score in the bottom of the frame. In total WWU scored 10 unanswered runs to build a lead that proved insurmountable behind a gutsy relief outing from GNAC Pitcher of the Year Kaiana Kong.
 
“It was a crazy first inning, but we got gritty and fought back,” said WWU head coach Sheryl Gilmore. “We knew our team was going to respond, because they have been doing that all year long. To see that response in the bottom of the first was pretty cool and it set the tone for the rest of the game. Saint Martin’s has a great offense and they find ways to produce runs, so we knew we would have to get more than what we just got in the first inning. We tried to just pour it on as best we could.”
 
WWU improved to 39-10 on the season, won its 12th straight game and advanced to the GNAC Championships title game for the third year in-a-row. The Vikings will face the winner of a 3 p.m. elimination game on Friday afternoon, with first pitch on Saturday scheduled for 11 a.m. (Mountain). “Before the game we were all fired up and just talked about how we have each other’s backs,” said junior first baseman Olivia Matlock, whose two-run home run in the bottom of the second helped bolster the Vikings’ lead. “We support each other no matter what.”
 
WWU starter Joie Baker ran into trouble at the outset of the game, hitting three batters and issuing a walk as the Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The defining moment of the frame came when SMU head coach Jim Peterson went to his bench for a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and only one out. Freshman Faith Prosch, who had just six collegiate hits entering the day, smashed the first pitch by Kong into the gap in left-center to plate all three baserunners and make the score 5-0.
 
The ominous start for the Vikings carried over into the bottom of the first, when SMU senior second baseman Shelby Lawson made a diving back-hand catch to take a hit away from Maleah Andrews and Analise Griffiths raced in from right field to make a diving catch on a soft fly ball off the bat of Kanilehua Pitoy.
 
Hailey Rath and Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez got a two-out rally started with back-to-back singles, and a sharp ground ball off the bat of Matlock that got through SMU first baseman Heather Ebner allowed the Vikings’ first two runs of the game to come home. WWU wasn’t finished there however, as an RBI-single by Laila Carpenter and a two-run triple off the bat of McKenna Crum evened the score at 5-5. “When another team scores on us, we know we can go out there and handle business,” Matlock said on facing the early deficit. “Once it got to 5-5, we knew it was a brand new ballgame and that it was time to break it open.”
 
After the Saints went down quietly in the top of the second, the Vikings threatened once again after Andrews drew a walk and Pitoy punched a single to left field. Andrewjeski-Ramirez followed with a two-run single into left

center, as WWU took its first lead at 7-5. Matlock’s sixth homer of the season cleared the fence in left-center and completed the four-run second as the Vikings kept momentum on their side. “I knew they were going to pitch me in and up, so I was just trying to keep my hands through the ball, not under the ball,” Matlock said on her home run swing. “I had a strong feeling it was going to be right there, and I just tried to swing hard at the pitch.”
 
Ebner dropped an RBI-single into left field in the fourth to cut the deficit to 10-6, as the Saints chipped away and continued to battle. The knock gave the co-GNAC Player of the Year 66 RBIs on the season, tying her for the conference single-season record with Northwest Nazarene’s Maia McNicoll (2022). With runners on first and second and one out, Kong honed in and stranded them both with a strikeout and a foul out.
 
It proved to be the final run the Saints managed off Kong, as the right-hander put up zeroes across her final three innings of work. Overall she allowed one run on seven hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in 6 1/3 innings of work to improve to 10-0 on the season. “She looked amazing,” Matlock said on Kong. “I love how she was prepared to come into the game in the first, and I think her drop ball and spin is really great for our defense.”
 
“Ana has been lights out all year long, and she was last year as well,” Gilmore said on Kong. “We know she is always going to give us a chance to stay in a game and find our way back. She came in during a tough moment and was able to shut it down. She was able to hold a really tough offense off all game long.”
 
Elissa Dewees tracked down a deep fly ball off the bat of Matlock to end the bottom of the fifth, crashing gently into the wall in left field to take away what would have been a run-scoring extra-base hit. Like Kong, SMU reliever Keagan Norfleet did well to keep her opposition quiet. The freshman limited WWU to one run on six hits with one strikeout and one walk in 4 2/3 innings of work. SMU starter Chloe Leverington was tagged for nine runs – four earned – on eight hits with one walk in 1 1/3 innings.
 
Andrewjeski-Ramirez was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, leading five Vikings who tallied multiple hits in a game where the team finished with 14 total. “Our lineup is awesome, and they compliment each other really well,” Gilmore said. “They do a great job of picking each other up, and to see Emma and Liv have such great days is really cool.”
 
Lawson and Haley Agena were the two Saints with multiple hits, with SMU totaling eight knocks in the defeat. SMU dropped to 32-13 overall on the season and will play in an elimination game at 3 p.m. on Friday against the winner of fourth-seeded Montana State Billings and third-seeded Simon Fraser.
 
Head-to-head at GNAC Championships: WWU 6-3
The Vikings won each of the last three games (including Friday’s) between the teams in a conference tournament all-time series that has been relatively balanced.
 
Saint Martin’s at the GNAC Championships
Tournament Wins: 1 (2015)
Appearances: 10 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
 
Western Washington at the GNAC Championships
Tournament Wins: 3 (2017, 2021, 2024)
Appearances: 8 (2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)