ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University softball team welcomes Western Oregon and Concordia to Garry and Bobbi Frederick Field for a pair of two-game series.

GAME INFO
Central Washington vs. Western Oregon | Friday, Mar. 30 | 1 & 3 p.m. PST

Central Washington vs. Concordia | Saturday, Mar. 31 | 1 & 3 p.m. PST

LAST WEEKEND
The CWU softball team traveled to Turlock, Calif. last week to compete at the 2018 Tournament of Champions.

The Wildcats ended the TOC with a 5-1 record and finished third amongst the 27 teams at the tournament. On the season, CWU is now 19-5. Lexie Strasser and Taelor Griffin were both named to the 2018 TOC All-Tournament Team for their performance over the Wildcats six games in Turlock.

Wildcats batted .285 over the week with 11 extra base hits and 33 runs batted in. Opponents hit just .207 with five extra base hits and 12 RBIs.

Central Washington was 13 for 14 in stolen base attempts led by Savannah Egbert who was 5 for 5. Theresa Moyle and Rachael Johnson both had two stolen bases.

Five CWU pitchers combined for a 1.43 earned run average walking just seven batters in 44 innings of work. Kayla Smith went 2-0 with a pair of complete game victories. McKenzie Behnke saw her first action of the season and struck out three batters over 2.1 innings.

GRIFFIN NAMED GNAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Taelor Griffin was an offensive catalyst for Central Washington last weekend in California. Griffin batted .500 for the Wildcats, going 7 for 14 with three runs and seven RBIs. She went 2 for 3 with two runs and five RBIs, three of which came on a three-run homer, in the Wildcats' 10-1 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills. Griffin went 2 for 4 and had an RBI single in Saturday's 9-1 win over Notre Dame de Namur and went 2 for 2 for in Sunday's 1-0 win over No. 13 Sonoma State. Her performance on the softball diamond garnered the attention of the conference, earning Player of the Week recognition.

STRASSER SHOWS MATURITY
Just a freshman, pitcher Lexie Strasser has already cemented herself as a staple in the Wildcat's pitching rotation. She earned her second consecutive GNAC Pitcher of the Week honor after registering a 4-1 record and amassing a 0.28 earned run average in five appearances last week at the Tournament of Champions. She allowed five runs, one earned, on nine hits and one walk while striking out 11 and limited opposing batters to a .102 average. Strasser threw a complete-game four-hitter on Sunday to beat No. 13 Sonoma State 1-0. She allowed one hit in Saturday's 9-1 rout of Notre Dame de Namur and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning of the Wildcats' lone loss, a 2-0 defeat to Concordia-Irvine.

STASTICALLY SPEAKING
The Wildcats lead the league in multiple offensive categories including batting average (.319), on base percentage (.399), runs scored (6.29/game), RBIs (5.33/game), and plate appearances (31.83/game). Defensively, Central Washington has a conference-best ERA of 2.76 and limits opposing batters to just a .253 clip.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Western Oregon
2018 Record: 15-14, 3-4 GNAC
Last Weekend: The Wolves made the trip south to compete at the Tournament of Champions last weekend and recorded wins against Stanislaus State (4-3) and San Francisco State (8-1). The Wolves dropped their games against Dominican (3-4), California State-Monterey Bay (1-9), and California State-Chico (0-2).
2017 Record: 29-24, 14-14 GNAC
Top Hitter: Ryanne Huffman and Tyler Creach lead the team with batting averages of .411 and .391, respectively. Huffman also has a team-leading slugging percentage of .533 and records 1.32 hits per game.
Top Pitcher: Lizzet Dominguez is the Wolves leading pitcher with a 3.24 ERA, .256 opposing batting average, and .727 win-loss percentage. She has eight wins on the season with just three losses and has pitched a total of 71.1 innings.

Concordia
2018 Record: 16-14, 3-5 GNAC
Last Weekend: Concordia (Ore.) also competed at the Tournament of Champions last week in California. The Cavaliers recorded a 3-2 record, defeating Cal State Monterey Bay (4-3), Hawaii Pacific (3-2), and San Francisco State (4-2). Dominican (4-7) and Stanislaus State (1-3) handed CU their two losses of the tournament.
2017 Record: 19-28, 11-17 GNAC
Top Hitter: Macy Besuyen has a .377 batting average and leads the team in slugging percentage (.532), on base percentage (.417), runs scored (23), and triples (four). Alexandria Steen is batting .315 and records 0.55 RBIs per game.
Top Pitcher: Mckenzie Smith has separated herself as the ace in the Cavalier rotation with seven wins on the season. She also leads CU in the majority of pitching categories including ERA (2.56), opposing batting average (.233), innings pitched (79.1), and strike outs (61).

-CWU-