Wednesday, April 16, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - Central Washington and Western Washington are ranked seventh and ninth, respectively, in the inaugural NCAA Division II West Regional softball poll of the 2014 season.

The poll is the first of three official NCAA polls, which will eventually determine the five teams that will join the champions of the GNAC, PacWest and California Collegiate Athletic Association in the eight-team regional playoffs next month.

The GNAC will determine its champion in a double-elimination four-team tournament May 1-3 at Richland, Wash.  First-place Western Oregon (26-18, 14-4) and second-place Central Washington (25-14, 14-6) have already secured berths for the tournament.

Western Washington (23-11, 10-6) and Saint Martin's (20-17, 9-6) will be looking to secure the final two berths this week. The Vikings, who host Northwest Nazarene for a four-game series Friday and Saturday, need a combination of four wins and/or four Montana State Billings losses to clinch.

MSUB plays six games this week, including two at Saint Martin's Friday and four at Simon Fraser Saturday and Sunday.  The first MSUB game is the completion of a suspended game from earlier this season.  Saint Martin's is leading in that contest 15-1 in the fourth inning.

Saint Martin's, which is the defending GNAC champion, can secure a post-season berth with two wins over MSUB Friday or with one win over the Yellowjackets and two other wins this weekend.  They host Western Oregon Saturday.  They also play a makeup with Northwest Nazarene Thursday.

Cal State Monterey Bay is the No. 1 ranked team in this week's poll.  The poll features five teams from the CCAA, three from the PacWest including No. 2 Dixie State and two from the GNAC.

NCAA West Region (April 16) – 1. Cal State Monterey Bay (38-5); 2. Dixie State (35-8); 3. UC San Diego (30-9); 4. Cal Baptist (33-11); 5. Humboldt State (36-11); 6. Sonoma State (31-15); 7. Central Washington (23-13); 8. Cal State San Bernardino (25-21); 9. Western Washington (21-11); 10. Hawaii Hilo (19-17).

LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS AND TOP PERFORMANCES:

GNAC RED LION PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:  Player – Jill McDaniels, Central Washington (2B, 5-8, Sr., Walla Walla, WA) had 10 hits in 18 at bats, including a double and two home runs leading the Wildcats to six consecutive victories.  Among her hits was a seventh-inning single to set up a game-winning two-run base hit in Wednesday’s 5-4 win over Simon Fraser.  On Saturday she had three hits and four RBI including a second-inning two-run home run in a 8-0 win over Western Oregon.  Then on Sunday, she snapped a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning of the nightcap with a RBI single.  The RBI was her eighth of the week.  Pitcher – Maria Gau, Central Washington (5-7, Sr., Woodinville, WA) and Amanda Todd, MSU Billings (5-5, Sr. Billings, MT – Skyview) .... Gau won four games and allowed just two earned runs.  In 22 innings, she gave up 14 hits and four runs.  She walked six and fanned 16 increasing her league-leading total to 114.  Among her victories were shutouts of Simon Fraser (3-0) and Western Oregon (8-0) ... Todd pitched back-to-back one-hitters against Northwest Nazarene, blanking the Crusaders 8-0 Friday.  On Saturday, she took a no-hitter and a 6-0 lead into the seventh before NNU took advantage of two errors to score four runs on just one hit finally getting the final out on her 11th strikeout of the game.  In the two contests, she walked seven and struck out 17.

HONORABLE MENTION: Brittney Sanders, MSU Billings (C, 5-6, Jr.,  Kelso, WA) batted .700  (7-of-10) and was one of three Yellowjackets along with Aubrey Conceicao and Taylor Hoke with six RBI as MSUB won three of four games with NNU at Billings.  Among Sanders’ hits was a double and a pair of home runs ... Justine Callen, Northwest Nazarene (OF, 5-9, So., Oregon City, OR – Clackamas CC) had five hits in 11 at bats as she hit safely in all four games.  NNU’s win in the series opener  was its first at Billings after 20 consecutive losses since the ‘Jackets joined the conference ...  Autumn Isaacson, Western Washington (OF, 5-5, Jr., Lake Stevens, WA – Bellevue CC) had five hits in eight at bats as the Vikings split two games with Western Oregon.  She, however, was thrown out in her only steal attempt and her season total remained at 27, one shy of the GNAC record ... Jourdan Williams, Western Oregon (3B, Jr., McMinnville, OR) had four hits, including three doubles, and drove in six runs as the Wolves lost three of four game.  She was hit by a pitch twice.

TEAM NOTES

Central Washington: The Wildcats outhit their opponents by 146 points (.347 to .201) and outscored them 36-14 in sweeping doubleheaders from Simon Fraser, Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s.  Three times they won in their last at bat, scoring twice in the seventh on a single by Andrea Hamada to beat the Clan 5-4, scoring three times in the sixth on hits by Austin Wilkerson and Rachel O’Neill and on a sacrifice fly by Hamada to snap a 5-5 tie in a 8-6 win over WOU and then scoring twice in the sixth on hits by Jill McDaniel and Jordan Zurfluh in beating Saint Martin’s 3-1. Maria Gau made last inning heroics in two other games unnecessary hurling two-hit and three-hit shutouts against SFU (3-0) and WOU (8-0).

Montana State Billings:  MSUB’s Aubrey Conceicao had seven hits in 15 at bats extending her hitting streak to 12 games.  She scored five of the Yellowjackets’ 25 runs against NNU .... MSUB’s Jessyka MacDonald acquired 15 of 23 outs on strikeouts in two appearance against NNU.  She allowed just two hits in 7 2/3 frames

Northwest Nazarene:   Justine Callen (5 hits) and Megan Lounsbury (3 hits) were the only NNU players with more than two hits in their series at Billings as the Crusaders batted just .160.  NNU did draw 11 walks, eight more than the Yellowjackets.

Saint Martin’s:  Saint second baseman Lacey McGladrey had four hits in six at bats increasing her career total to 227.  She ranks fifth in GNAC history, 31 in back of SMU’s Joslyn Eugenio who ranks fourth with 258. 

Simon Fraser:  Jessica Goulet had three solid pitching performances allowing just six earned runs in losses to Central Washington (3-0, 5-4) and British Columbia (4-0).  All four runs against UBC came on one pitch, a grand slam home run.

Western Oregon:  The Wolves close their road campaign with a doubleheader at Saint Martin’s Saturday before finishing its home schedule with doubleheaders next week against Western Washington and Simon Fraser.  The Wolves need five wins (and/or Central Washington losses) in the six contests to clinch the GNAC regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the playoffs.  CWU, which is idle this week, closes its conference season next week with four games at Northwest Nazarene.

Western Washington:   The Vikings batted .339 in splitting a pair of games with Western Oregon.  Eighteen of their 19 hits were singles.  Alexie Levin had the only double and Meghan Carrillo had a team-best three RBI. WWU turned three double plays in the twinbill.