Thursday, February 19, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – All seven GNAC teams competed in the MSUB Desert Stinger softball tournament last weekend in Las Vegas compiling a combined record of 18-22.

After Vegas, it’s a relatively light week in the conference with Northwest Nazarene, Simon Fraser and Western Washington taking the week off. 

MSUB played its only three games of the week Monday and Tuesday at St. George, Utah, losing all three before heading home.

Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s take relatively short trips to Clackamas to play in the Northwest Cup this weekend. 

The Wolves play Oregon Tech and College of Idaho Friday, while the Saints, after a Saturday twinbill at Pacific Lutheran, play three games in the Cup Sunday against College of Idaho, Saint Martin’s and Northwest Christian.

Central Washington is the only GNAC team with a journey ahead this weekend as it travels to the Bay Area  for doubleheaders with Dominican, Holy Names and Academy of Art Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Central Washington posted the best record at the Desert Stinger winning 4-of-5 games.  Western Washington won 4-of-6 games, including a 3-2 record in  games that were designated as “tournament counters”.

Saint Martin’s was also 3-2 in tournament counters and 3-3 overall.  Both Simon Fraser and Montana State Billings were 3-3 overall (2-3 in tournament contests).

Northwest Nazarene finished the tournament with a 1-4 record.  Western Oregon was winless in six counters, including all five of its tournament counters.

MSUB shortstop Taylor Hoke was the lone GNAC player selected to the all-tournament team at Las Vegas.

In six games, Hoke batted .474 with nine hits in 14 at bats.  Among her nine hits were one double and three home runs.  She also led the Yellowjackets in RBI with seven.

Team Notes

Central Washington:  Taylor Ferleman batted .500 (10-of-20) as the Wildcats outscored their opponents 34-23 at Las Vegas batting .325 in winning four-of-five games, including a 10-3 win over 19th-ranked Humboldt State.  CWU’s lone loss was to No. 3 ranked Dixie State.  Sammy Morris also had 10 hits (in 22 at bats) in the tournament.  Austin Wilkerson led the team with two home runs and eight RBI.  Lindsey Kamphuis won two games in earning GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors.

Montana State Billings:  The Yellowjackets hit eight home runs, including three by Hoke and two by Emily Osborn who drove in six  runs.  Kelsey Devlin batted .444 (8-of-18). MSUB averaged nearly six runs a game, scoring five or more in every contest except a 3-1 loss to Cal State Dominguez.

Northwest Nazarene: Ashley Pesek has a seven-game hitting streak to start her season.  She batted .360 last week including two games in California against William Jessup prior to the Stinger, banging out nine hits in 25 at bats.  Whitney Carlton had a pair of home runs.  Ali Schauer, who batted .333 (6-of-18),  drew five walks reaching base in all seven games.

Saint Martin’s:  Taviah Jenkins had 13 hits in 28 at bats in eight games, including a home doubleheader with Concordia.  Jenkins slugged at a .786 pace, doubling three times and banging out two home runs.  Dani Wall batted .440 (11-of-25) and drove in six runs, while Jackie Schmaeling and Megan Miller each hit .435, going 10-of-23.  Sam Munger won three of four decisions posting a 2.52 ERA.

Simon Fraser:  Stefanie Sheard batted .371 (13-of-35), in 10 games during the week, including four in Hawaii.  She had five doubles and one home run and drove in 14.  SFU averaged 7.4 runs per game hitting at a .328 clip.  Taylor Gillis, who put together an eight-game hitting streak, led SFU with 12 runs scored and stolen bases with five.  She walked six times.

Western Oregon: Amanda Evola put together an 11-game hitting streak to start the season before going 0-for-2 Sunday in an 8-0 loss to Regis.  At Las Vegas, Evola had seven hits in 20 at bats, increasing her career hit total to 221, which ranks sixth in GNAC history.   Destiny Kuhl led WOU in the tournament with a .412 average (7-of-17).  Kelsie Gardner batted .400 (8-of-20) and had a  team-high five RBI.

Western Washington: In 10 games last week, Alexie Levin batted .519 (14-of-27) and drove in 10 runs.  She had two doubles and two home runs and also walked seven times and has now reached base in 11 consecutive games. Emily Benson batted .414 (12-of-29) and Alicia Fine batted .400 (14-of-35) and drove in 15 runs in earning GNAC Player of the Week honors.  Makinlee Sellevold won 3-of-4 decisions in the circle.  For the week, the Vikings averaged 6.8 runs per game and slugged 10 home runs.

GNAC Players of the Week: Player  -  Alicia Fine, Western Washington (SS, 5-6, Sr., Mount Vernon, WA – Portland State), batted .500 (10-of-20) and drove in 14 runs as the Vikings won four of six games in Las Vegas.  Among her 10 hits, were four doubles and three home runs as she posted a 1.150 slugging percentage.  She walked three times and didn’t strikeout out. For the week, she batted .400 (14-of-35) and drove in 15 runs in 10 games.   Pitcher – Lindsey Kamphuis, Central Washington (5-10, Fr., Kennewick, WA - Kamiakin) won two games allowing just 15 hits in 18 innings as the Wildcats won four of five games to open its season.  Her first win was a 10-3 complete-game conquest of No. 19 ranked Humboldt State.

GNAC Weekly (PDF version)