Friday, June 23, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. – The full slate of championship venues for the 2017-18 athletic year is set with the selection of Concordia’s Hilken Community Stadium to host the 2018 GNAC Softball Championships and Central Washington’s baseball field to host the 2018 GNAC Baseball Championships.

The double-elimination tournaments will be held in early May. The winner of both tournaments will receive the GNAC’s respective automatic berths to the NCAA Division II Championship.

“We are extremely honored and excited to host the 2017 GNAC Softball Championships at Concordia,” said Concordia athletic director Brian Jamros. “We believe that Porter Park provides a wonderful experience for participants and spectators and we look forward to working with the GNAC to host a great event.”

Originally built in 2011 to house the Cavaliers’ soccer and baseball programs, Hilken Community Stadium/Porter Park was retrofitted earlier this year to give the school’s softball program its first on-campus home. A movable outfield fence was purchased to provide for the NCAA standard outfield depth. A removable turf baseball mound was also installed, providing for quick changeover between baseball and softball.

The GNAC Softball Championships will be the third conference championship event to be held at Hilken Community Stadium in a two-year span. The facility hosted the GNAC Baseball Championships in May and will host the GNAC Women’s Soccer Championships this November.

The GNAC Baseball Championships will be the fourth GNAC championship event that Central Washington has hosted. Central Washington hosted the GNAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2008 and was the host school for the 2014 and 2015 GNAC Softball Championships, which was held in Richland and Yakima, Wash., respectively.

“Central Washington is excited to host the GNAC Baseball Championships,” said CWU athletic director Dennis Francois. “Hosting the championships is a great opportunity for us to showcase our great university and the community of Ellensburg. It is even more exciting knowing that this will be the first year that the champion is awarded an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, something that all of the baseball programs in the GNAC have been looking forward to.”

The CWU Baseball Field has been home of the Wildcats’ baseball team since the late 1960s. The venerable facility seats 500 people and is a pitcher-friendly park with a distance of 412 feet from home plate to straight away center field. The natural surface is Kentucky bluegrass with a crushed red cinder infield and warning track.

SITES FOR 2017-18 GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Cross Country: Lake Padden Park, Bellingham, Wash., Oct. 21 (Western Washington, host)
Women’s Soccer: Hilken Community Stadium/Tuominen Yard, Portland, Ore., Nov. 2-4 (Concordia, host)
Indoor Track and Field: Jacksons Indoor Complex, Nampa, Idaho, Feb. 16-17 (Northwest Nazarene, host)
Basketball: Alaska Airlines Center, Anchorage, Alaska, Mar. 1-3 (Alaska Anchorage, host)
Golf: The Coeur d’Alene Resort Course, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Apr. 23-24
Softball: Hilken Community Stadium/Porter Park, Portland, Ore., May 3-5 (Concordia, host)
Baseball: CWU Baseball Field, Ellensburg, Wash., May 9-11 (Central Washington, host)
Outdoor Track and Field: McArthur Field, Monmouth, Ore., May 11-12 (Western Oregon, host)