Tuesday, March 31, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. –    After a weekend in which GNAC teams split 42 games (21-21) with PacWest and CCAA rivals, the race for the GNAC’s four conference playoff berths resumes Thursday with the makeup of a doubleheader at Monmouth between Western Washington and Western Oregon.

The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

The Wolves and Vikings are in a virtual tie for third place in the GNAC, one game back of second-place Central Washington and one ahead of fifth-place Montana State Billings.

WWU is coming off a second-place finish in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament of Champions at Turlock.  The Vikings won four of seven games losing twice to Humboldt State including 6-1 to the Lumberjacks in the championship game.

It was another in a long series of solid performances for the Vikings at Turlock.  In the 14-year history of the conference WWU (45-44) is the only GNAC team to have a winning record in the annual event.

Lately, Saint Martin’s has performed the best at Turlock, posting a 21-7 record over the past four seasons, including 6-1 last week to earn the Silver Bracket championship.

The Saints (27-13, 7-1) go into April leading Central Washington (17-14, 8-4) by one game in the conference race.

SMU hosts defending champion Western Oregon (13-20, 5-3) Saturday at 1 p.m.

This weekend’s schedule also features a pair of four-game series as Northwest Nazarene plays at Simon Fraser  and Central Washington visits Montana State Billings. 

Because of predicted heavy rainfall Friday in Burnaby, the first two games of the SFU-NNU series has been moved to Thursday at a time to be announced. The final two games are tentatively set for Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

A Look Back at the Tournament of Champions

All seven GNAC teams won at least two games at Turlock led by Saint Martin’s (6-1) and Western Washington (4-3). 

MSU Billings (3-3) and Central Washington (3-3) each split their six games, while Northwest Nazarene (2-3), Simon Fraser (2-4) and Western Oregon (2-5) finished with two wins each.

GNAC teams were 9-6 against the PacWest and 12-15 against the CCAA for a 21-21 record.  One game pitted two GNAC teams against each other (a 6-3 SMU win over Central Washington in the Silver Bracket semifinals).

Munger Tied For National Lead in Saves

Sam Munger of Saint Martin’s is tied for the national lead in saves with four.

The only other GNAC player ranked in the Top 10 in any category is SMU’s Alyssa Slate.  She is seventh in sacrifice flies with three.

In team categories, Western Washington and Western Oregon are tied for fourth in double plays.  Saint Martin’s is 19^th in batting average, hitting .341.

GNAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Player – Sam Munger, Saint Martin’s (P-SS, Everett, WA – Cascade) was selected the MVP in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament of Champions as she led the Saints to six straight wins and the second best record (6-1) in the 24-team event.  Whether from the batter’s box or the circle, she was spectacular.  At the plate she had 14 hits in 24 at bats, including two home runs.  She drove home eight, twice plating the game-winner.  Her RBI single in the bottom of the eighth gave SMU a 2-1 win Friday against Azusa Pacific.  On Sunday in the Silver Bracket championship game, her sixth inning sacrifice fly snapped a 5-5 tie in a 6-5 win against nationally fourth-ranked Cal State Monterey Bay.  She then went to the circle in the bottom of the inning and retired the final five hitters to earn a save.  She also had three wins and a 0.83 ERA, allowing just four runs (three earned) and 22 hits in 25 1/3 innings.

Pitcher –  Sammi Cadwallader, Western Oregon (5-8, So, Toledo, OR) earned a win as a starter against San Francisco State and as a reliever with four scoreless innings in Sunday’s Consolation championship game against Academy of Art.  She also was a tough-luck 2-1 loser Friday to Academy of Art and finished the week with a 1.72 ERA allowing just five runs in 20 1/3 innings.

Team Notes

Central Washington:  Kailyn Campbell earned all-tournament honors at Turlock as she led the Wildcats with a .471 batting average (8-of-17) and 10 RBIs.  Among her hits were two doubles and one home run.  Austin Wilkerson (8-of-19) and Sammy Morris (8-of-23) also had eight hits each.  Morris scored a team-high eight runs.  CWU batted .346, the third best average in the tournament.  Lindsey Kamphuis accounted for all three of CWU’s victories and had a 1.84 ERA giving up just five earned runs in 19 innings.  She was touched up for eight unearned runs.

Montana State Billings:  Jessica Campbell, who had pitched just six innings in three previous games, allowed only three hits and an unearned run in nine innings in a pair of contests at Turlock, picking up a win.  Offensively, Aubrey Conceicao paced the Yellowjackets with eight hits in 17 at bats.  Bella Rovens went 7-for-18.  MSUB outscored its seven opponents 26-25, defeating nationally fourth-ranked Cal State Monterey Bay 3-0 and losing only 8-7 to No. 21 Sonoma State.  Heather Tracy had the most RBIs driving in six in 13 at bats.

Northwest Nazarene: The Crusaders had their best performance ever in seven CSUS tournaments winning twice for the second year in a row and losing a pair of one-run contests.  It is 4-6 over the past two tournaments after going 2-23 over the previous five. Whitney Carlton led the Crusaders with two singles and three doubles in 13 at bats. She also drove in six runs.  In nine games during the week, she had 11 hits in 26 at bats and drove in 13 runs.   Among her hits were five doubles and a triple.  Lily Paschal had 11 hits in 29 at bats and scored nearly one-quarter of her team’s runs (13 of 56).

Saint Martin’s:  In its last four CSUS tournaments, the Saints have gone 4-2, 6-1, 5-2 and 6-1, all under Rick Noren.   Sam Munger had 14 hits in 24 at bats to raise her career average to .397, seventh best in GNAC history.  Munger also had a 0.83 ERA, three wins and her fourth save of the season to move into a tie for the national lead.  Megan Miller batted .381 (8-of-21) and Taviah Jenkins hit .360 (9-of-25).  Munger had eight RBI and four others – Jenkins, Lindsey Miller, Alyssa Slate and Mary Dettling – each had five RBI.

Simon Fraser:   Taylor Lundrigan batted .333 (6-of-18) and Danielle Raison hit .357 (5-of-14) and had a home run and four RBI to lead the Clan to a 2-4 record.    SFU outhomered its six opponents 3-0.   Alla Stachoski had both of the Clan’s two victories and Jessica Goulet had a 3.77 ERA, allowing seven earned runs in 13 innings.  One of SFU’s wins was over No. 21 Sonoma State 4-3.

Western Oregon: The Wolves hit just .220 in seven tournament contests and were shut out three times, but got decent pitching allowing four or fewer runs in four games. Sammi Cadwallader posted a 1.40 ERA and Lizzet Dominguez had a 3.50 ERA.  Including two pre-tournament games, Kelsie Gardner had 13 hits in 28 at bats and Amanda Evola had 12 hits in 28 at bats, including four doubles and a home run.  Evola, who had a 14-game hitting streak snapped, drove in six runs. 

Western Washington:  Autumn Isaacson, Kali Patterson and Alicia Fine each had seven hits as the Vikings posted a 4-3 tournament record at Turlock.  Including a pre-tournament loss to Sonoma State, Patterson batted .474 (9-of-19).  Makinlee Sellevold won four of six games and had a 2.44 ERA.  She tossed five complete games in five starts and also made a relief appearance.

GNAC SOFTBALL WEEKLY REPORT