Friday, May 7, 2021

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Washington bats were hot, but Anna Kasner was hotter.

The senior tossed a five-inning no-hitter with 12 strikeouts to lead the No. 2 seeded Vikings to a 9-0 victory over top-seeded Northwest Nazarene in the third game of the GNAC Softball Championships at Western Oregon University.

The no-hitter was Kasner’s second of the season and the first in GNAC Championships history. She threw a perfect game against Saint Martin’s back in March. Kasner just missed out on a perfect game against the Nighthawks with a hit batter with two outs in the fifth inning.

The Vikings wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Junior Chantelle Shimabukuro led off the game with a solo home run to left-center field. Two batters later, junior Tatum Dow followed with a solo shot of her own down the left-field line. Shimabukuro went 2 for 3 with two runs in the game while Dow went 2 for 2 with three runs.

Western Washington tacked on four more runs in the third inning. Shimabukuro drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a bunt single by senior Mackenzie Palmer. Dow singled to third base to load the bases and Shimabukuro scored on a passed ball.

Junior Lauren Lo went 2 for 3 with a pair of runs and five RBI. She hit a two-run double off the left-field fence in the third inning and added the exclamation point with a three-run homer to left-center in the fifth.

Northwest Nazarene junior Tori Hensley took the loss in the circle. She allowed two earned runs on three hits with two strikeouts in two innings of work. The lone baserunner for the Nighthawks was freshman Abigail Gagnon, who was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning to end Kasner’s perfect game bid.

Northwest Nazarene (29-11) will await the winner of the fourth game between No. 3 seeded Saint Martin’s and No. 4 seeded Western Oregon. That game will be played Friday at 3:30 p.m. Western Washington (22-12) advances to the championship game on Saturday at noon.