By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

NAMPA, Idaho – Paris Dellamaggiore ripped a pinch-hit, championship-winning single into center field on Saturday afternoon at Halle Field, putting the finishing touch on Western Washington’s second straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference Softball Championships title with an 8-7 win over Simon Fraser.
 
The sophomore from Clovis, Calif., was summoned from the bench with one out and the bases loaded and on the eighth pitch of her at-bat prompted a celebration from the Vikings’ dugout.
 
WWU swept the competition at the GNAC Championships for the second straight season, after winning all three games en route to the 2024 crown. The win on Saturday gave WWU its GNAC record fourth conference tournament title, and the Vikings joined NNU as the second team in conference history to win consecutive GNAC Championships.
 
The Vikings improved to 40-10 on the season with the win and earned the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA West Region Championships. WWU is the defending NCAA Division II national runner-up, becoming the first program in GNAC history to reach the World Series in a historic 2024 campaign.
 
Simon Fraser, making its first GNAC Championships appearance since 2018, finished its season with a record of 24-25 and took third in the GNAC regular-season standings.
 

2025 GNAC Softball Championships All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player: McKenna Crum, Western Washington
Position	Player	School
Pitcher	Monica Bourque	Simon Fraser
Pitcher	Alli Kimball	Western Washington
Catcher	Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez	Western Washington
First Baseman	Olivia Matlock	Western Washington
Second Baseman	Shelby Lawson	Saint Martin's
Third Baseman	Maleah Andrews	Western Washington
Shortstop	Hailey Rath	Western Washington
Outfielder	Erin Murphy	Simon Fraser
Outfielder	Abby McGlynn	Simon Fraser
Outfielder	McKenna Crum	Western Washington
Designated Player	Amanda Peterson	Saint Martin's
Utility	Janique Balcaen	Simon Fraser

Trailing 5-0 after four innings of play, the Red Leafs put together a spirited comeback effort and scored seven runs in the final three innings to take a 7-6 lead. RBI-singles by Kristen Davyduke and Janique Balcaen and an error by the Vikings brought three runs across in the top of the fifth. Balcaen, Friday’s hero with a walk-off single to send SFU to the championship game, delivered again with a two-run double in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to one at 6-5.
 
With the Red Leafs down to their final out, catcher Lizzy Sugrive stunned WWU with a two-run home run to left field that not only kept her team alive but gave SFU its first lead of the game.
 
All-tournament selection Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez promptly led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, and an ensuing error by the Red Leafs brought the tying run around to score. After a walk drawn by Nyree Johnson and a base hit by GNAC Championships MVP McKenna Crum, WWU head coach Sheryl Gilmore turned to Dellamaggiore to pinch hit. She won the battle against SFU ace Monica Bourque, sending the Vikings to the tournament title.
 
The Vikings got started on their early lead on an RBI-single by Crum in the second, and added two more runs on an error in the bottom of the third. In the fourth, it was an RBI-double by Kanilehua Pitoy and an RBI-squeeze bunt by Hailey Rath to up the spread to 5-0.
 
Bourque, who earned all-tournament honors after three stellar outings over the first two days to pitch her team to the championship, allowed eight runs – three earned – on 11 hits with four strikeouts and four walks in the title game. Balcaen finished 4-for-4 with three RBIs and Davyduke was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored to lead SFU.
 
WWU sophomore Alli Kimball earned her second win of the tournament, allowing one unearned run on six hits with one strikeout and no walks across five strong innings of work. Crum capped her MVP performance by going 3-for-4 and stealing a base in the title game, while Andrewjeski-Ramirez and Johnson were each 2-for-3.
 
UP NEXT: The Vikings will find out their first stop at the NCAA West Region Championships on Monday morning, with the NCAA set to release the final seeding for the event at 7 a.m. (Pacific). WWU was ranked fourth in the latest regional rankings, which were released prior to the beginning of this week’s GNAC Championships tournament.