ELLENSBURG, Wash. (May 3) – The Central Washington University Softball team has advanced to the championship game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. They'll have to beat the Concordia (Ore.) Cavaliers twice in order to earn the tournament crown.
GAME INFORMATION
Friday | May 4 | 12:00 p.m.
No. 3 Concordia (Ore.) vs. No. 1 Central Washington
Portland, Ore. | Porter Park
Watch|
Live Stats
Friday | May 4 | 2:30 p.m. (If Necessary)
No. 3 Concordia (Ore.) vs. No. 1 Central Washington
Portland, Ore. | Porter Park
Watch|
Live Stats
SCOUTING CONCORDIA
Concordia (Ore.) is led by dual-threat Mckenzie Smith. The utility player, who has seen starting time at pitcher, first base and designated player, has a .319 batting average at the plate and a 3.53 earned run average in the circle. Smith is tied for second in the GNAC with 14 wins. Hannah Self leads the Cavaliers with a .328 batting average and 12 home runs while Sally Bowles tops the team with a 3.14 earned run average. Bowles is fifth in Division II with 0.65 walks allowed per seven innings.
THIS SEASON
The Wildcats and Cavaliers split the four-game regular season set, as the visitors took both road games in each of the two teams meetings. On March 24, the Cavaliers took two games from Wildcats by scores of 6-4 and 7-2 in Ellensburg. On April 27, The Wildcats claimed two games against the Cavaliers 3-0 and 12-4 in Portland.
DAY TWO
GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: CONCORDIA 7, CENTRAL WASHINGTON 0
A four run first inning lifted the Concordia (Ore.) Cavaliers over the Central Washington University Softball team 7-0 in the first game of day two of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Friday morning.
The Cavaliers jumped all over the Wildcats in the first inning. They sent nine batters to the plate and scored four runs on three hits, drew two walks and had one batter get hit by a pitch. The Cavaliers added two runs in the third and another one in the fourth.
GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: CENTRAL WASHINGTON 5, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 2
Julia Reuble was the offensive hero for the Wildcats in a GNAC Championships elimination game against Northwest Nazarene. Reuble pounded two doubles and drove in two for the Wildcats as they advanced to Saturday's championship game by a final score of 5-2.
Reuble got the Wildcat offense rolling in the second inning. Reuble laced a leadoff double into left field. She'd advance to third on a wild pitch before scoring on another wild pitch. Later in the inning,
Bethany Balucan bounced out to second allowing
Maddy Zerr to cross home plate. The Wildcats led 2-0 midway through the second.
In the seventh inning, Reuble came through for the team again. With two outs and two runners on, Reuble scorched a ball into the right center field gap.
Kayla Smith and
Savannah Egbert hustled home to give the Wildcats a 5-1 lead. The Wildcats hung onto their lead to take the game. Reuble finished the day 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs batted in and a run scored for the Wildcats.
DAY ONE
GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: CENTRAL WASHINGTON 8, NORTHWEST NAZARNE 0
Kayla Ellis could not have asked for a better birthday present. On her 22nd birthday, Ellis went 2-for-2 and hit a solo home run to lead off a four-run fourth inning as the No. 1 seeded Wildcats scored an 8-0, five-inning win over No. 4 seed Northwest Nazarene in the second game of the GNAC Softball Championships at Porter Park.
Ellis and Smith each had two hits in the game to back up a two-hit shutout for sophomore pitcher
Lexie Strasser. She allowed just one walk and struck out four batters, all in the first two innings, to improve to 16-9 on the season. Strasser retired the last five batters of the game in order and needed just three pitches to retire the side in the fifth.
