Wednesday, May 6, 2015

NCAA West Regional #1 (at St. George, Utah):  Thursday  - #3 California Baptist 8,  #6 Chico State 1; #7 Saint Martin's (41-18) vs. #2 Dixie State (44-7), 5:30 p.m.  Friday - Games at 1, 3:30 and 6 p.m.  Saturday - Games at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (if necessary). 

NCAA West Regional #2 (at Seaside, Calif.): Friday - #5 Sonoma State (39-19) vs. #4 Humboldt State (41-17), 3p.m.; #1 Cal State Monterey Bay (47-10) vs. #8 Montana State Billings (29-21), 5:30 p.m.  Saturday - Games at 2 p.m., 4:30 and 7 p.m.  Sunday - Games at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. (if necessary).

PORTLAND, Ore. –   To reach the NCAA West Region Best-of-Three championship series next weekend GNAC regular-season champion Saint Martin’s and tournament champion Montana State Billings will first have to deal with some of the best Division II softball teams in the nation.

The Saints (41-18) open their sub-regional tournament Thursday at St. George, Utah, against No. 2 seed Dixie State (44-7).  The Red Storm are ranked fourth in this week’s NFCA national poll.

Also competing in the St. George sub-regional are nationally 11th-ranked California Baptist (40-9) and unranked Chico State (28-20).

Things won’t be any easier for the Yellowjackets (29-21) at Seaside, Calif., as MSUB opens against nationally fifth-ranked and No. 1 seed Cal State Monterey (47-10) and will also have to contend with 16th  ranked Humboldt State (41-17) and No. 27 Sonoma State (39-19).

MSUB, which is seeded eighth and is unranked, is making its fourth all-time NCAA appearance.  In its three previous trips to the regional it won two of eight games, splitting four games in 2006 and losing two straight in both 2009 and 2012.

The Yellowjackets played six of the seven regional qualifiers this spring, winning four of 14 games, including two of five against Saint Martin’s.

MSUB handed Cal State Monterey Bay one of its 10 losses March 27 at Turlock, Calif., winning 3-0. 

The ‘Jackets also split two games with Humboldt State by identical 6-3 scores, winning Feb. 13 in the Desert Stinger in Las Vegas and losing March 29 in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament of Champions.

MSUB also played Sonoma State to a near standoff, losing 6-5 at Las Vegas and 8-7 at Turlock.  They also lost 9-1 to Chico State at Turlock and dropped a three-game series at St. George to Dixie State (6-0, 3-2, 9-0).

Outside of MSUB, Saint Martin’s is winless against the other regional qualifiers.  It lost to both Cal Baptist (5-1) and Sonoma State (14-6) on Feb. 14 at Las Vegas.

The Saints are making only their second NCAA post-season appearance.  Two years ago they split four games reaching the championship game of their sub-regional.

GNAC Batting, ERA Titles Up For Grabs

The GNAC batting and earned run average titles could be up for grabs in this week’s sub-regionals.

Kelsie Gardner of Western Oregon finished her season with a .432 average.  Currently, Saint Martin’s Sam Munger is batting .430 and could catch Gardner with a good tournament performance.

Munger also goes into the regional with the GNAC’s best ERA.  Barely.

Munger’s ERA is 2.325.  Western Washington freshman Makinlee Sellevold has a 2.326 ERA.  Jessyka MacDonald of Montana State Billings ranks third at 2.80.

Munger is also the conference batting leader in hits (89), runs scored (54), doubles (21) and total bases (128).  SMU’s Taviah Jenkins leads the conference in RBI with 60.

Also among the conference leaders is Montana State Billings first baseman Emily Osborn.  She is the home run leader with 12.

MSUB’s leading hitter is shortstop Taylor Hoke, who ranks fifth in batting with a .389 average and is third in home runs with 10 and fourth in RBI with 48.

Nationally: Saints 7th in  Batting With .348 Average

Saint Martin’s ranks seventh in batting in this week’s NCAA Division II national statistical report with a .348 average.

That equals the GNAC record set last year by Western Washington.  The Saints also rank ninth in on-base percentage (.418).

Also ranked in the Top 10 in this week’s report is Western Oregon, which is third in double plays (0.55 per game).

In individual categories,  Kailyn Campbell of Central Washington is the only GNAC player ranked in the Top 10 in a category. She ranks eight in RBI per game with a 1.23 average.

GNAC Team Notes

Montana State Billings:  MVP Cameron Cassinelli led the tournament with seven RBI. She also finished the tournament with a 1.500 slugging percentage as she had four hits (two doubles, two home runs) in eight at bats,  Pitcher Jessyka MacDonald , pitched all 21 innings for the Yellowjackets, allowing just 17 hits and nine runs, which were all earned as the ‘Jacket defense was charged with just two errors.

Saint Martin’s:  Mary Dettling batted .636 (7-of-11) and Lindsey Miller batted .545 (6-of-11) as the Saints batted .321 as a team in the conference tournament.  Sam Munger had four hits in 10 at bats increasing her GNAC hit record to 291.  Munger also made three appearances in the circle increasing her career total to 141 and breaking the GNAC career record of 140 by Erin Martin of Seattle University between 2005 and 2008.

Western Oregon: Amanda Evola and Jourdan Williams each had three hits to pace the Wolves in the conference tournament.  Evola finished her career ranked third in the GNAC in hits with 274.  She also finished third in runs scored (160) and total bases (427), second in RBI (169) and fifth in doubles (56).

Western Washington:  Autumn Isaacson batted .333 (5-of-15) and recorded her league-best sixth triple of the season as the Vikings split four games in the conference tournament.  She also finished the season with a GNAC-record 33 stolen bases. The Viking led the tournament in doubles (7), triples (2) and home runs (5).  Jordan Walley had two of the four-baggers as she batted .750 (6-of-8) and slugged (1.625).