ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington softball team (9-10, 0-0 GNAC) will open up GNAC play against arch-rival the Western Washington Vikings (11-9, 3-1 GNAC) this Saturday and Sunday.
 
GAME INFORMATION:
 
Saturday, March 18^th
Central Washington vs. Western Washington
12:00 & 3:00 p.m.
Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field
Ellensburg, Wash.
LIVE STATS WATCH
 
Sunday, March 19^th
Central Washington vs. Western Washington
12:00 & 3:00 p.m.
Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field
Ellensburg, Wash.
LIVE STATS WATCH
 
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS:
 
The Vikings opened up their GNAC season last weekend when they played host to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs taking the 3-1 series victory to land in a tie for first place in the GNAC standings with Northwest Nazarene. This will be the 158^th through 161^st ever meeting between the two squads with WWU currently holding the 84-73 advantage.
 
Kinzey Williams and Hailey rath have been the go-to offensive weapons for WWU as Williams currently has a .354 batting average and Rath has a .324 batting average. Currently, Rath has all four of the Vikings' homeruns on the season. Williams (23), Rath (22), and Kanilehua Pitoy (21) have the most hits for the Vikings while Rath and Pitoy have the most RBIs with 17 and 10 respectively.
 
The Vikings have their ace in Mareena Ramirez who has made 10 starts posting a 1.43 ERA and an 8-2 record. Ramirez has seven complete games on the season and one shutout in her 73.2 innings pitched. She's allowed 50 hits, 24 runs, 15 earned runs, 37 walks, while getting 82 strikeouts against 266 batters. Alexis Slater is the other most likely starter for the Vikings having started five games posting a 5.14 ERA and a 1-3 record. Slater has two complete games, and one shutout in 31.1 innings pitched. She has allowed 44 hits, 27 runs, 23 earned runs, and 15 walks while getting 17 strikeouts against 139 batters.
 
UP NEXT:
 
The Wildcats will face off against a very familiar team, this time during conference contests when the Wildcats travel to the Montana State Billings Yellow Jackets (7-12, 1-3 GNAC) for a four-game series. The series begins on Friday, March 24^th at 12:00 p.m. pacific standard time and continues on Saturday, March 25^th at 11:00 a.m. PST with game two on both days starting approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one from Avitus Group Stadium.