Wednesday, April 22, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. –    Saint Martin’s is ranked sixth and Western Washington is ranked 10th in the second NCAA Division II West Regional softball poll of the 2015 season.

Those are the same positions those teams occupied in the inaugural poll last week.

The poll will eventually determine which five at-large teams join the GNAC, PacWest and CCAA champions in the eight-team regional tournament in May.

If the three conference champions all wind up in the top eight in the final poll, the top eight teams will advance to the regional tournament, which will be divided into two four-team sub-regionals.

Dixie State, which is the defending West Regional champion, is the No. 1 ranked team in the poll for the second week in a row.

The GNAC will determine its champion next week in a four-team tournament at Yakima.

Three teams – Saint Martin’s, Western Washington and Montana State Billings – have secured spots in the tournament.

Western Oregon currently has a three-game lead over Central Washington for the fourth and final berth. 

The Wolves, who hold the tiebreaker advantage, need just one win in a four-game series this Friday and Saturday at MSUB or one loss by CWU, to secure that berth.

The Wildcats need to sweep home doubleheaders Friday against Western Washington and Sunday against Simon Fraser to keep alive their hopes.

Saint Martin’s currently has a three-game lead over MSUB and WWU for the top seed and plays a four-game series Friday and Saturday at Northwest Nazarene to close its regular-season.

West Region – 1. Dixie State (38-6); 2. Cal State Monterey Bay (41-9); 3. Cal Baptist (37-9); 4. Humboldt State (38-12); 5. Sonoma State (35-16); 6. Saint Martin’s (28-13); 7. Chico State (22-18); 8. Hawaii Hilo (30-16); 9. Cal State East Bay (25-22); 10. Western Washington (24-16).

Munger Sets GNAC Career Record For Hits

Saint Martin’s Sam Munger became the GNAC’s all-time hit leader last weekend as SMU won four games  with doubleheader sweeps of Western Oregon and Central Washington.

Munger now has 281 hits, two more than previous leader Brandi Harrison of Humboldt State (2002-06).

Munger also has a .407 career batting average, which ranks sixth in GNAC history.  She also ranks fourth in runs scored (161) and fifth in both RBI (152) and doubles (55).

She currently is on a 21-game hitting streak and now has two of the three longest streaks in GNAC history, including a 27-gamer during her final 26 games of the 2013 season and her first game of the 2014 season.

The longest GNAC streak is the second longest in NCAA Division II history – a 40-gamer by Danielle Monson of Central Washington in 2010.

In the circle, Munger  ranks second in career wins with 80 and second in innings pitched (737 1/3), and complete games (94).

Munger was selected the GNAC Pitcher of the Week for the seventh time in her career last week.   She has also won eight Player of the Year awards for a GNAC record 15 total awards.  Seattle University pitcher Erin Martin won 10, all in the circle.

Western Oregon’s Amanda Evola ranks second in GNAC history in RBI with 169.  She will likely finish second as she trails Harrison by 22.

MSUB’s Tracy 8th in Toughest To Strike Out

Heather Tracy of Montana State Billings is one of the toughest players to strike out in Division II fanning just twice in 126 official at bats.

That ratio ranks second nationally.  She likes to put the bat on the ball as she has walked just once.

Two GNAC players are tied for ninth in sacrifice flies with five each – MSUB’s Aubrey Conceiacao and Alicia Fine of Western Washington.

Sam Munger is a 20-game winner this season, ranking 12th.  Western Washington freshman Maklinlee Sellevold is 17^th with 19 wins.

SMU’s Taviah Jenkins ranks 14th in RBIs with 52.

GNAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Player – Amanda Evola, Western Oregon (OF, 5-7, Sr., Portland, OR – Westview) had eight hits in 15 at bats, including 5-of-8 in a 2-1, 4-3 doubleheader sweep of Central Washington Sunday reducing the Wolves’ magic number for clinching a post-season playoff berth to one.  She scored the winning run in the 2-1 victory and drove in the winning run in the 4-3 victory with her fourth hit of the game. 

Pitcher – Sam Munger, Saint Martin’s (P-SS, 5-6, Sr., Everett, WA – Cascade) earned three victories – her 78th, 79th and 80th of her career - as the Saints reduced their magic number for clinching at least a tie for the GNAC regular-season title to one.  Munger, who now ranks second in GNAC history in career wins, had a 2.28 ERA allowing five earned runs in 15 1/3 innings. She also led the Saints offensively with nine hits increasing her career total to 281 to break the GNAC record of 279 set by Brandi Harrison of Humboldt State between 2002 and 2006.  Munger also had three doubles and five RBI.

Team Notes

Central Washington:  The Wildcats lost four games last weekend despite getting one of the best four-game stretches of pitching in the GNAC this year.  CWU allowed just 12 runs, nine earned in the four contests, losing twice by 2-1 and twice by 4-3 margins.  Kiana Wood allowed just four runs, two earned, in 13 2/3 innings.  The Wildcats, however, hit only .248.  Sammy Morris had six hits in 14 at bats and takes a 14-game streak into Friday’s home doubleheader against Western Washington.

Montana State Billings:  Heather Tracy led the Yellowjackets with five hits in 11 at bats in a four-game series with Great Falls.  Coach Lisa Allen gave 17 players at bats in the series.  She also used five pitchers in the circle.  Taylor Hoke had four RBI.  Her three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning won the third game 12-11.

Northwest Nazarene: Ashley Pesek allowed just five hits in 10 innings in a pair of five-inning complete game 9-1 and 20-4 wins over Walla Walla.  The Crusaders batted .500 in the doubleheader as Lily Paschal had six hits in seven at bats and Whitney Carlson had five hits in seven at bats.  Paschal also scored seven runs and Carlton drove in five.  NNU also had six triples, twice falling one shy of the GNAC single-game record of four.

Saint Martin’s:  Sam Munger had nine hits in 16 at bats, including three doubles, in four victories.  She also drove in five runs.  Dani Wall had seven hits in 15 at bats and drove in five runs, including the game-winner in Saturday’s 4-3 win against Central Washington. Mary Dettling also had a productive weekend with seven hits in 13 at bats, including a pair of doubles.

Simon Fraser:  Earlier this season Rachel Proctor became the eighth player in GNAC history to homer in four consecutive games when she went deep at Western Oregon on March 14 and in three games at MSUB on March 21 and March 22.  Proctor is SFU’s team leader in all three triple crown categories – batting average (.371), home runs (5) and RBI (25). In Sunday’s non-conference win over British Columbia, Stefanie Sheard led SFU with four hits and Kaitlyn  Cameron had three.

Western Oregon: Amanda Evola had eight hits in 15 at bats and Kelsie Gardner had seven in 16 at bats as the Wolves split four games last week.  WOU needs either one win in their four-game series at MSU Billings or a Central Washington loss this weekend to advance to the GNAC post-season tournament.

Western Washington:  The Vikings have clinched a GNAC post-season berth.  With four games remaining, only its seeding is yet to be determined.  They could finish anywhere between first and fourth.  Currently they are tied with MSU Billings for second with a 13-7 conference record.  They’ll also try to improve on their No. 10 regional ranking.  Eight teams advance to the regional tournament.