Wednesday, May 1, 2024
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – From the quest for a record-third straight GNAC Softball Championships title to a bid for its first trophy in a decade, there are storylines for all four of the teams set to compete in this week’s tournament hosted by Western Washington.

Action kicks off on Thursday with a noon (Pacific) first pitch between No. 2 seed Western Washington and No. 3 seed Saint Martin’s, with No. 1 seed Northwest Nazarene taking on No. 4 seed Central Washington at 2:30 p.m. The double-elimination format tournament will feature three games on Friday starting at 10 a.m. (Pacific), followed by the championship game on Saturday starting at noon (Pacific).

Tickets are available for online purchase at this link. All tickets must be purchased via the link, as cash will not be accepted on site. All games at the championship will be streamed live on the GNAC YouTube channel online here, and live statistics for all games will be available online here.

X-Factor: Sidney Booth. The two-way star was GNAC Championships MVP in both 2022 and 2023, and has put together arguably the best season of her collegiate career. If any player knows what it takes to lead their team to victory in this tournament, it’s Booth – who has pitched 56 2/3 innings across 10 starts in GNAC Championships games. Booth holds a 0.99 ERA with six wins, a save, three shutouts and a no-hitter in her tournament career.

Player to Watch: Abigail Gagnon, Senior, Third Baseman (Second-Team All-GNAC)

Gagnon led the team with a .346 batting average during the regular season and posted a .909 OPS across 35 games played. The Nighthawks’ cleanup hitter drove in 22 runs while hitting four long balls and adding six doubles. Alongside Booth, Gagnon is the team’s most experienced postseason player as she has seen action in a dozen GNAC Championships contests and played a key role on each of the previous two tournament titles for NNU.

Path To The Trophy: The Nighthawks became the first GNAC team to repeat at the conference tournament last season, and if they are to win their third straight trophy experience will be the key. The only two players in NNU’s most recent starting lineup who haven’t played in the tournament are freshmen (Ava Clark and Keana Bell), as the Nighthawks have a combined 56 games played at the GNAC Championships between 15 players currently on the roster.

X-Factor: The three-headed monster that is WWU’s pitching staff. Kaiana Kong, Alli Kimball, Joie Baker – it doesn’t really matter who you face when the Vikings have, in essence, three aces on their staff. Kong had the top ERA at 1.28, Kimball had the most wins with 15 and Baker had the most strikeouts with 106 during the regular season. Baker and Kimball alternated in the starting role throughout the season, while all 29 of Kong’s appearances came in relief. The pitching staff as a whole ranked 12th in Division II with a team ERA of 1.79 and allowed an opponents batting average of .219.

Player to Watch: Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez, Catcher (Second-Team All-GNAC)

Providing the Viking lineup with a punch in her first season with the team, Andrewjeski-Ramirez led the GNAC with 43 RBIs during the regular season and enters the conference tournament having tied WWU’s single-season home run record with 15. With a slash line of .285/.396/.638, Andrewjeski-Ramirez makes for a tough out in the middle of a productive WWU lineup and provides protection for GNAC Player of the Year Hailey Rath who bats third. The catcher held a .983 fielding percentage in 173 chances this season defensively.

Path To The Trophy: The beauty of the Vikings’ elite pitching staff is that it doesn’t take a world of run support for the team to emerge victorious. There was plenty of that during the team’s record 17-game winning streak from March 22-April 13, as the Vikings averaged 6.35 runs during that stretch. That doesn’t mean the team can’t win low-scoring or close games, as the team is 11-7 when it scores fewer than five runs in a game and is 16-6 in games decided by two runs or fewer. The Vikings, who have not lost a game by more than three runs all season, enter the tournament battle-tested and having competed against the top teams in the region.

X-Factor: Chloe Leverington. One of the most reliable arms in the conference, Leverington leads Division II with nine saves thus far in 2024. The 6-0 junior right-hander logged 110 2/3 innings during the regular season for the Saints, and ranked third in the GNAC with 112 strikeouts. After breaking the GNAC single-season saves record with 13 in 2023, the conference’s all-time saves leader is up to 24 in her three seasons with the Saints. Leverington’s 2.02 ERA this spring is the lowest of her career and she has matched her career best with a dozen victories.

Player to Watch: Heather Ebner – Third Baseman (Second-Team All-GNAC; GNAC Freshman of the Year)

Immediately taking center stage as one of the conference’s top hitters in her debut collegiate season, Ebner led the GNAC with a .487 on-base percentage during the regular season while ranking second in slugging (.656) and second in batting average (.377). The McNary High School (Keizer, Ore.) graduate delivered 39 RBIs on the season, and had four games with a season-high four RBIs including her most recent outing against Montana State Billings. When Ebner drives in a run the Saints are 14-5; when she doesn’t they are 11-13. That is evidence that the Saints rely on the freshman phenom to spark the offense.

Path To The Trophy: It will take more than just Ebner for the Saints to carve a path to Championship Saturday, but luckily the top half of their lineup is stacked with talent. Leadoff hitter Ashley Goodale matched Ebner with a .377 batting average, and ranks second in the conference with an on-base percentage of .452. Veteran Britney Patrick is hitting .336 and cleanup hitter Shelby Lawson – the reigning GNAC Player of the Week – is red hot with an eight-game hitting streak and seven RBIs in that span heading into Thursday’s opening game. If the Saints can strike early and get to the middle innings with a lead intact, there is nobody better in the conference at closing the door than Leverington.

X-Factor: Wildcat Vets. Central Washington’s most recent lineup featured seven seniors and just one underclassman, as the Wildcats boast the most seasoned starting nine of any of the four teams in the tournament. Heading up the group is senior catcher Alyssa Benthagen, who leads the team in hitting (.336) home runs (3) and RBIs (21). The senior leadership carries over to the circle, where ace Ashlee Laver earned second-team all-conference with 135 1/3 innings pitched, a 2.93 ERA and 17 complete games on the season. The key to upset wins for CWU will be leaning on its veterans to step up.

Player to Watch: Zoey Theophilus – Right-Handed Pitcher

In a lineup full of upperclassmen, the freshman out of Tumwater, Wash., has emerged into a crucial piece of CWU’s pitching rotation this spring. The right-hander allowed more than three earned runs just one time across her 15 appearances this spring, and enters the tournament on a roll with just three earned runs allowed in her last 19 2/3 innings pitched. One of her five victories this spring came in the form of a 2-1 triumph over Western Washington on April 20, in which she allowed just one run with two strikeouts and no walks in 5 2/3 strong innings.

Path To The Trophy: It will be an uphill battle for the Wildcats, who averaged just 3.0 runs per game during the regular season. The good news is that CWU has registered at least one win over all three teams in the tournament, and pulled off a series split with the host Vikings. The Wildcats will need career performances from their seniors, but they have already proven they can beat all the teams in the field. Now they’ll just need to do so when the playoff lights are shining bright.