ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University softball team closes the regular season with a four-game series against Saint Martin's University. The Wildcats will stop by Lacey, Wash. on Saturday, April 28, for a double-header beginning at 1 p.m. PST. The Saints will then make the trip to Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field on Sunday for a Senior Day doubleheader beginning at noon.
 
GAME INFO
Central Washington at Saint Martin's | Saturday, April 28 | 1 & 3 p.m.

Central Washington vs Saint Martin's | Sunday, April 29 | 12 & 2 p.m.
 
LAST WEEKEND
The CWU softball team split their two-game series with Simon Fraser and Western Washington last weekend. 
 
The Wildcats breezed to a 13-0 victory over the Clan in their first game against SFU, but dropped a 1-7 decision in game 2. Central scored early and often in the five-inning game-one matchup. Katie Kastning drove in the first run of the game on a RBI single that plated Savannah Egbert from third. Jacie McDaniels kept the rally going with a two-RBI double and Sydney Brown capped the four-run frame plating McDaniels on a single to left field.
 
The Wildcats added four more in the second inning on a two-run double by Kastning followed by a two-run homerun by Julia Reuble, her second of the season.
 
On Sunday, Western Washington squeezed out a 3-1 victory, before being eight-run ruled in the afternoon game (8-0). The game broke open in the the third inning where the Wildcats tallied six hits in the frame. Reuble singled home Kastning early in the inning and Alycia Bannan hit the ensuing pitch to left field plating pinch-running Hannah Spero on the play. Three batters later, Balucan drove in the final two runs on a double to left center just out the reach of the Vikings left fielder to give the Wildcats a commanding 6-0 lead.
 
GNAC STANDINGS
For the first time this season, the Wildcats dropped to second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings. The Nighthawks of Northwest Nazarene capitalized on Central's recent struggles and are riding a six-game winning streak to capture the top spot and clinch a berth to the GNAC Championships in early May. The full GNAC standings can be found below:


WILLIAMS MAKES HISTORY
Sophomore Taylor Williams earned her first-career no-hitter in game 2 of CWU's doubleheader with the Vikings last week. Williams used just 63 pitches, 12.6 per inning, including an eight pitch second inning. Outside of her two walks, Williams was flawless, inducing eight groundouts to go along with four strikeouts.
 
She becomes the sixth Wildcat to record a no-hitter and the fifth to do so in a five inning game. Her performance in the circle garnered attention from around the conference, earning GNAC Pitcher of the Week recognition.
 
WEST REGION UPDATE
The Wildcats remain the only GNAC team listed in the NCAA West Region standings, however, CWU dropped two spots to rest in ninth this past week. The top-eight teams from the region qualify for the NCAA tournament, which will include each of the three conference championship winners and five at-large bids. The Wildcats can guarantee a berth to the NCAA Tournament by winning the GNAC Tournament, or earning one of the top-eight seeds in the tournament.  
 

 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Saint Martin's
2018 Record: 23-18, 13-11 GNAC

Last Weekend: The Saints won three of their four games last week against Western Washington (W 5-4, W 4-3) and Simon Fraser (W 7-2, L 6-10).
 
SMU managed to fight their way back to win a pair of one run games against the Vikings to sweep WWU on the year. Home runs by Kim Nelson and Tessani Dixon tied the first game, leading to a walk-off single by Lindsay Miller as the Saints came back down 4-0 to win 5-4. Once again, Western Washington took a lead, heading into the bottom of the sixth up 3-1. Sabrina Hicks delivered the crushing blow as she drove in two on a triple and scored on the play due to an error to put SMU on top 4-3.
The Saints continued their come from behind ways against Simon Fraser, using a fifth inning surge to take the first end of the doubleheader 7-2. However, their luck ran out in the final game, with the Clan capitalizing on Saints' errors to squeeze out a 10-6 win.

Top Hitter: The Saints have three hitters who are hitting better than .300 this season, led by Lindsey Miller with a team-best batting average of .368. She also leads SMU with a .449 on base percentage and has totaled 50 hits on the season. Tessani Dixon has a .322 batting average and has tallied a team-high 28 RBIs and six homeruns. Lauren Diuco rounds out the list of .300 batters for the Saints, hitting .319 on the season.  
 
Top Pitcher: Lauren Maley has a team-best 2.57 ERA and limits opposing batters to just a .260 clip. She has 16 wins on the season and has  pitched a total of 125.1 innings with 47 strikeouts.
 
-CWU-