Tuesday, April 8, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - After its best-ever performance as a group in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament of Champions last weekend at Turlock, Calif., the GNAC's seven softball teams resume conference play this week.

Four of the seven will eventually earn berths in the GNAC tournament.  The winner of that tournament, which will be played May 1-3 in Richland, Wash., will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA West Regionals, May 8-10 at a site to be determined.

GNAC teams had a combined record of 24-19 at Turlock, finishing the annual event with a winning record for the first-time in conference history. 

Western Washington reached the Gold Bracket semifinals in posting a 5-1 record.  Saint Martin’s won the Bronze title and had a 5-2 record and Central Washington reached the Silver bracket semifinals and posted a 4-2 record.  In the last three tournaments, SMU has a 15-5 TOC record.

Western Oregon, which leads defending champion Saint Martin's by 3 1/2 games, was just 3-4 in California.  The Wolves, however, can become the first GNAC team to nail down a playoff berth with two wins this weekend.  

WOU (25-15, 13-1) plays at third-place Western Washington (22-10, 9-5) Friday and at fourth-place Central Washington (19-14, 8-6) Saturday.

This week's schedule begins Wednesday with a makeup doubleheader at Burnaby, B.C., between CWU and Simon Fraser (4-25, 2-12).

The Wildcats, after playing WOU Saturday, also host Saint Martin's (20-15, 9-4) on Sunday to complete a six-game week. 

Meanwhile, Montana State Billings (12-17, 4-10), which trails CWU by four games for the final playoff spot, entertains Northwest Nazarene (10-24, 2-9) for a four-game series beginning Friday.

Isaacson Among National Leaders in Stolen Bases, Runs

Western Washington’s Autumn Isaacson is ranked ninth in stolen bases and 29th in runs scored in this week's NCAA Division II national statistical report.

Isaacson, who is averaging 1.13 runs scored per game, is closing in on the GNAC single-season stolen base record.  She stole two last week increasing her total to 27, one shy of the GNAC record of 28 held by Jessi Williams of Western Washington and Andrea Williams of Humboldt State, both in 2002.

Isaacson is one of three Viking players who are nationally ranked.  Alexie Levin ranks 30th in RBI (1.23) and Haylee Baker is tied for 10th with Bridjet Box of Western Oregon in sacrifice flies with four.

WWU is one of Division II's best offensive teams.  The Vikings rank eighth in batting (.354), 17th in runs scored (6.87) and 28th in slugging percentage (.505).  

Defensively, Western Oregon and Saint Martin's rank second (0.62) and 14th (0.49) in double plays.

NCAA NATIONAL STATISTICS (Top 30; through April 7): Team: Batting – 8. Western Washington .354.  Scoring – 17. Western Washington 6.87.  Slugging – 28. Western Washington .505. Double Plays – 2. Western Oregon 0.62; 14. Saint Martin’s 0.49.  Individual:  RBI – 30. Alexie Levin, WWU, 1.23.    Stolen Bases – 9.  Autumn Isaacson, WWU, 0.87.  Runs – 29. Autumn Isaacson, WWU, 1.13. Hit By Pitch – 30. Jackie Schmaeling, SMU, 0.29.  Sacrifice Flies – 10. Haylee Baker, WWU, and Bridjet Box, WOU, 4.

HITTING STREAKS (10 or more): 27 – Sam Munger, SMU (26 in 2013, 1 in 2014); 16 – Amanda Evola, WOU.  15 –  Melanie Pfeiffer, WOU; Lacey McGladrey, SMU (12 in 2013, 3 in 2014).  13 – Kaleigh Keating, WWU.  12 – Alexie Levin, WWU. 10 - Bella Rovens, MSUB.  Current: 8 – Aubrey Conceicao, MSUB.

LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:

GNAC RED LION PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:  Player – Meghan Carrillo, Western Washington (OF, 5-3, Sr., Prunedale, CA – North Monterey County) and Austin Wilkerson, Central Washington (C, 5-5, So., Ferndale, WA - Sehome) .... Carrillo, who leads the GNAC in on-base percentage (.494) and ranks second in batting (.438), led the Vikings to a 5-1 record in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament of Champions.  She had six hits in 16 at bats and also had a team-high six RBI.  Wilkerson batted .444 (8-of-18) as the Wildcats posted a 5-2 record, including a 7-4 win over Chico State.  In that contest, Wilkerson hit a two-out, two-run home run in the seventh to give CWU a 5-4 lead.  Among Wilkerson’s eight hits were two doubles and a pair of home runs.  She also drove in six runs.  Pitcher – Kelli Demianew, Western Oregon (5-10, Jr., Pendleton, OR), had the fourth lowest earned run average in the tournament (0.70) as she won two of three starts.  In 20 innings, she allowed just 16 hits and a pair of earned runs.  She currently leads the GNAC with a 1.52 ERA.

HONORABLE MENTION: Aubrey Conceicao, MSU Billings (IF, 5-3, Jr., Temecula, CA – Great Oaks) batted .500 to lead the Yellowjackets to a 3-3 record at Turlock.  She had 11 hits in 22 at bats, scored five runs and drove in six.  Among her hits were 10 singles and a home run.  Conceicao has hit safely in eight straight games ...  Kayla Sevier, Northwest Nazarene (SS, 5-6, Jr., Nine Mile Falls, WA – Lakeside) batted .667 (8-of-12) as the Crusaders posted their best-ever record in the tournament winning two of five contests. Among her hits were two doubles and a triple.  She also drove in four runs.  Her average led the tournament ... Sam Munger, Saint Martin’s (P, 5-6, Jr., Everett, WA – Cascade) posted a 3-2 record, including a 2-0 shutout of Cal State Stanislaus in the Bronze Bracket championship game.  She tossed five complete games, allowing 30 hits in 36 innings.  Munger allowed 16 runs (14 earned), walked 10 and fanned 19 ...   Mary Dettling, Saint Martin’s (OF, 5-0, Fr., Reno, NV – Edward C. Reed) led the Saints with a .421 average (8-of-19) and also had a team-high four doubles as the Saints posted a 5-2 record.

TEAM NOTES

Central Washington: Austin Wilkerson (See Player of the Week notes) and Sammy Morris each had 10 hits for the Wildcats, who hit just .232.  CWU, however, continued its stretch of outstanding pitching allowing just 19 runs in eight games, including two pre-tournament contests.  In its last 14 contests, CWU has given up five runs twice and four or fewer 12 times.   Kiana Wood won her only decision, allowing nine hits and three runs in two appearances covering 12 1/3 innings. 

Montana State Billings:  The Yellowjackets split six games but were close to winning all six of its contests, losing by two runs to nationally eighth-ranked Humboldt State (5-3) and by one run to No. 20 UC San Diego (1-0) and Chico State (8-7).    Amanda Todd split her two decisions in the circle and had a 2.10 ERA, allowing just seven runs (five earned).  She struck out better than one batter per inning, fanning 19 in 16 2/3 innings.

Northwest Nazarene:  Noelle Wright posted a 2-1 record as the Crusaders won two Tournament of Champion games for the first time.  In their five previous tournament appears they had won a grand total of two games (1 each in 2009 and 2012).  Wright had a 4.08 ERA and two complete games.  She defeated Chaminade 5-4 and Notre Dame de Namur 3-2.

Saint Martin’s:  In addition to Mary Dettling (See Player of the Week honorable mention notes), the Saints were led offensively by Megan Miller, Lacey McGladrey and Dani Wall.  Miller batted .407 (11-of-27).  McGladrey and Wall each batted .360 (9-of-25).  Riko Toyama had a team-high eight RBI.

Simon Fraser:  Rachel Proctor led the Clan with a .333 average (5-of-15) and four RBI.  She also had two of SFU’s four doubles.  Jessica Fortier lost her only decision, but had a 2.33 ERA.  The Clan played their opponents even in the first through fourth and sixth through eighth innings, each scoring 15 runs.  SFU, however, was outscored 10-0 in the fifth inning of its six games.

Western Oregon:  GNAC leader Western Oregon finished with a 3-4 record, but handed tournament champion and defending West Regional champion Humboldt State (4-1) its only loss.  Two of its losses were by 4-3 decisions (Cal State East Bay and Azusa Pacific) and a third was to CSU San Bernardino by a 3-1 count. Melanie Pfeiffer (8-of-24) and Bridjet Box (8-of-18) each batted .333.  Amanda Evola hit .304 (7-of-25) and had two doubles, two home runs and five RBI.

Western Washington:   Including a pre-tournament loss to Sonoma State, Kaleigh Keating led the Vikings with a .375 batting average (9-of-24).  She also scored eight runs.  Autumn Isaacson batted .348 (8-of-23) and stolen three bases.  Shayna Adelstein had a 3-2 record and a 2.24 earned run average, allowing 12 runs (eight earned).

For more GNAC Softball News, check out the weekly report.