ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Mar. 13) – After completing a four-game sweep of preseason conference favorite Northwest Nazarene, the Central Washington University softball team sets their sights north. They take on Western Washington in doubleheader on Saturday before doing the same with Simon Fraser on Sunday. Both days are scheduled to start at noon.
GAME INFORMATION
Saturday | March 16
DH at Western Washington
12:00 p.m. | 3:00 p.m.
Bellingham, Wash. | Viking Field
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Live Stats
GAME INFORMATION
Sunday | March 17
DH at Simon Fraser
12:00 p.m. | 2:00 p.m.
Burnaby, B.C. | Beedie Field
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Live Stats
FROM THE COACH
"Another great opportunity to compete against two very good programs," CWU head coach
Mike Larabee said. "Our team will continue to approach every game with 'opening day' excitement and play the game with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Our team has continued to work very hard on improving all aspects of their game and as head coach it is very evident that they are learning, growing and getting better all the time". I expect all games to be very competitive."
SCOUTING WESTERN WASHINGTON
After winning the GNAC Championships in 2017, Western Washington was a different team in 2018. With the loss of many of the team's top players, the Vikings finished under .500 for just the fifth time in the GNAC era. Western hit just .254 as a team, but was competitive in the circle with a solid 3.85 earned run average. The program's 252 strikeouts were second in the GNAC and their 2.68 strikeout-to-walk ratio was 31st in Division II.
The Vikings are led by Shearyna Labasan
, who earned First Team All- GNAC honors for her efforts at the plate. Labasan batted .421 with 11 doubles, four home runs and a .586 slugging percentage. As the Vikings' No. 2 pitcher, Labasan compiled a 3.48 earned run average and 102 strikeouts. Western Washington will return a pair of superstars in
Emily Benson and Makinlee Sellevold, who sat out the 2018 campaign. Benson earned All-GNAC and All-West Region honors in 2017, hitting .418 with 44 runs, 12 homers, 37 RBIs and a blistering .733 slugging percentage. Sellevold batted .390 in 2017 and finished with 67 hits, eight homers and a .628 slugging percentage.
SCOUTING SIMON FRASER
Picked to finish eighth in last year's preseason poll, Simon Fraser proved to be the surprise of the GNAC. The Clan secured the fourth and final spot in the GNAC Championships by winning five of their final seven games and then rode the stellar pitching of Alia Stachoski to the tournament final, losing to Northwest Nazarene. Simon Fraser finished the year batting .265 as a team. The Clan won 21 games despite a GNAC-high 4.18 earned run average.
The Clan will make plenty of adjustments with the departure of six starters, including Stachoski and First Team All-GNAC selection Taylor Lundrigan, and the arrival of first-year head coach Michelle Peters. The lineup is led by senior infielder Hailey Gearey, who earned Honorable Mention All-GNAC honors after hitting .303 with 21 runs and 11 stolen bases, and sophomore Kate Fergusson, who hit .315 with 18 RBIs and also earned Honorable Mention All-GNAC honors.
LAST TIME OUT
The Central Washington University softball team picked up a four-game sweep of preseason conference favorite Northwest Nazarene last weekend. They took the games by scores of 2-1, 9-6, 10-9 and 10-4.
Lexie Strasser led the Wildcats to their 2-1 victory. She pitched seven innings, striking out four batters while allowing just one earned run.
Julia Reuble hit a solo home run in the fourth before
Katie Kastning tripled home the winning run in the fifth.
Theresa Moyle gave the Wildcats a one-run lead in Friday's second game as she swatted a three-run home run in the bottom of the first.
The bottom of the third inning saw four runs cross the plate for the Wildcats.
Bethany Balucan singled home a run. A bases loaded walk from
Alycia Bannan brought another run across.
Savannah Egbert then grounded out to first, allowing
Sydney Brown to score.
Northwest Nazarene plated a run in the top of the fourth inning with a two-out single, bringing the score to 7-3.
Central Washington wasn't done, however. In the bottom of the fourth inning the Wildcats struck for a pair of runs. Brown singled home Moyle, before a wild pitch allowed
Kayla Smith to score for a 9-3 advantage. The Wildcats took the game 9-6.
Moyle was the story again in game three of the series as she nearly hit for the home run cycle. Moyle hit a two-run homer in the third inning, a solo shot in the fifth and a three-run home run in the sixth. She drove in six runs and scored three on the day.
The Wildcats still needed a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the win.
Kayla Smith reached on a dropped pop fly and was able to reach scoring position on the error.
Keegan Wise chopped a grounder back towards the circle, but the Nighthawks' first basewoman failed to keep in contact with the bag, allowing Wise to reach and putting runners on the corners. After a foul out down the left field line Johnson slapped a grounder to short, where it was mishandled, allowing Smith to score from third for a 10-9 victory.
The Wildcat offense stayed potent in the series finale.
Taylor Williams came on to pitch in relief of
Samantha Stanfield in the fourth inning. Williams picked up the win after pitching four innings while striking out two batters and allowing no runs.
Theresa Moyle's unreal performance landed her GNAC player of the week. Moyle was phenomenal in the team's four-game sweep of Northwest Nazarene over the weekend. She went 7-for-9 with four home runs, hitting three home runs in game one of Saturday. She missed the home run cycle by a grand slam. Moyle added a double to her multitude of extra base hits. Moyle drove in 10 runs and scored nine runs on the weekend. She had a slugging percentage of 2.222 and an on-base percentage of .833. Moyle was intentionally walked twice, and drew three total walks. Defensively, Moyle caught one would-be base stealer.
