Tuesday, May 2, 2023

BURNABY, B.C. – Northwest Nazarene was almost impossible to beat in the conference regular season. Now the Nighthawks lead the field as the GNAC Softball Championships begin on Thursday at Beedie Field on the campus of Simon Fraser University.

The Nighthawks won their third consecutive regular-season title with an impressive 18-3 conference mark and enter the GNAC Championships with a 33-15 overall record. Northwest Nazarene is on a seven-game win streak and went 15-3 in the month of April.

While leading the GNAC with a 2.07 ERA and ranking fourth with a .273 batting average, NNU finished with a 1.60 ERA and a .309 batting average in conference play, leading the GNAC in both categories. The Nighthawks outscored GNAC teams 140-46 and limited opponents to a .227 batting average.

Senior Tori Hensley leads NNU both in the circle and at the plate. She ranks second in the GNAC with a 1.94 ERA, compiling a 14-5 record, and ranks third in the conference with a .373 batting average and is fourth with 57 hits. Junior Sidney Booth continues to be a two-way threat in 2023, ranking third in the conference with a 1.98 ERA and sharing the GNAC lead with 16 wins. At the plate, Booth is hitting .271 with 39 hits and 28 RBIs.

Senior Maia McNicoll enters the championships with a .299 batting average. She ranks second in the GNAC with 86 total bases, is fourth with a .585 slugging percentage and is tied for fourth with 12 doubles. Freshman Clarissa Moreno is batting .293 and is tied for fourth in the GNAC with 33 runs scored.

Thanks to inclement weather early in the season, Saint Martin’s was forced to play one-third of its conference schedule over the final week of the regular season. The Saints met the challenge, going 6-2 over that stretch to clinch the No. 2 seed and its third straight GNAC Championships berth.

Finishing 15-9 in GNAC play and 28-16 overall, the Saints enter the tournament ranked second in the GNAC with a 3.13 ERA and third with a .282 batting average. The Saints’ 24 home runs are second among the teams in the championships field.

Junior Tia Ridings leads the SMU pitching staff, ranking sixth in the GNAC with a 2.69 ERA. She has 15 wins and a .239 opponent batting average in 112 innings. Sophomore Chloe Leverington has a 2.81 ERA and her 12 saves rank in the top five in Division II.

Offensively, freshman Haley Agena leads the conference with a .493 batting average and a .493 on-base percentage. Junior Britney Patrick is batting .341 while freshman Shelby Lawson is batting .320.

Western Washington secured the No. 3 seed with a late season run, sweeping four games from Montana State Billings in a neutral-site series in Yakima on Apr. 22 and 23 before splitting a rain make-up doubleheader with Saint Martin’s on Apr. 26. The Vikings won six of their final seven games of the regular season.

The only GNAC team hitting above .300 this season, Western Washington leads the conference with a .301 batting average and is fourth with a 3.21 ERA. The team’s .239 opponent batting average ranks second in the league.

Senior Mareena Ramirez has been a flamethrower for the Vikings in the circle, leading the conference with a 1.87 ERA. She is tied for first in the GNAC with 16 wins and is among the Division II leaders with 162 strikeouts. In 157.1 innings, Ramirez has allowed 56 runs and just 25 extra-base hits.

Freshman Hailey Rath has been the Vikings’ top offensive threat, ranking sixth in the GNAC with a .345 batting average and fifth with 51 hits. Senior Kinzey Williams is hitting .331 on the season and is sixth in the conference with 49 hits.

Despite losing its last seven games of the regular season, Western Oregon reached the GNAC Championships as the No. 4 seed. The Wolves howled over the first half of the conference season, going 9-3 in their first three series. They were stung late, dropping three of four games at Montana State Billings and all four games in the final weekend to Northwest Nazarene.

Western Oregon has excelled in the circle, ranking third in the GNAC with a 3.16 ERA. Senior Maddie Mayer ranks fourth in the conference with a 2.24 ERA while limiting opponents to a .229 batting average. Senior Chelsea Smith owns a 3.20 ERA and a .223 opponent batting average while striking out 148 in 122.2 innings.

The Wolves own a .237 team batting average with sophomore Maddie Doig ranking 10th individually with a .330 batting average. Senior Natalie Willoughby owns a .320 batting average.

The GNAC Softball Championships begin Thursday with No. 2 Saint Martin’s facing No. 3 Western Washington at noon. No. 1 Northwest Nazarene will take on No. 4 Western Oregon at 2:30 p.m. The double-elimination tournament concludes with the championship game on Saturday at noon. The winner of the GNAC Championships receives the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championships.

Tickets are available for advance purchase at GNACTickets.com. All games will be live-streamed on the conference’s YouTube page, GNAC.tv.

The GNAC Softball Championships will mark just the third time that an NCAA conference tournament has been held outside the United States. Simon Fraser previously hosted the GNAC Women’s Soccer Championships in 2015 and 2016.