Tuesday, May 21, 2024
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

LONGWOOD, Fla. – The top of the order supplied the punch and freshman Alli Kimball did the rest in the circle on Tuesday at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park, as Western Washington beat Auburn University Montgomery 7-1 in an elimination game at the 2024 NCAA Softball Championships.

Leadoff hitter Maleah Andrews gave her team a lead that it would never relinquish, with a two-run home run in the top of the third inning. Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year Hailey Rath delivered a three-run double, and cleanup hitter Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez hit her program-record 18th home run of the season to cap a five-run sixth inning that ultimately decided the game.

Kimball earned her 23rd victory of the season, keeping the Warhawk lineup at bay and pitching into the seventh inning. The right-hander allowed one unearned run on nine hits with one strikeout and two walks in 6 1/3 innings of work. Fellow freshman Kaiana Kong recorded the final two outs, sealing the Vikings’ 50th victory of the 2024 campaign.

The Vikings kept their historic season alive, improving to 50-10 win Tuesday’s win. WWU faces No. 4 seed UIndy on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT in another must-win game. If the Vikings emerge triumphant, they would face UIndy again at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on Wednesday with the winner of that game earning a spot in the Division II World Series finals. UIndy (60-5) defeated Charleston 9-0 on Sunday and Lenoir-Rhyne 1-0 on Monday and is 2-0 thus far at the national championship tournament.

AUM’s season came to a close with a record of 47-14. The Warhawks beat Charleston 17-4 earlier on Tuesday prior to the loss to the Vikings.

AUM starter Alanna Goble retired the first eight Vikings that she faced on Tuesday, and her team rewarded her with the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Gia Martin drew a leadoff walk and made her way around to third with a steal and an error by the Vikings. Chloe Derrick settled for a sacrifice fly when WWU centerfielder Taylor Khorrami made a diving catch, which helped limit the damage in the inning to a single run.

McKenna Crum gave WWU its first baserunner with a two-out single in the top of the third, and Andrews followed with her eighth home run of the season over the fence in center to give the Vikings a 2-1 advantage.

Kimball gained strength as her outing progressed, working around a leadoff single in the third by starting an inning-ending double play. The freshman right-hander did more of the same in the fourth, stranding the tying run on third base by coaxing three straight ground outs including two that she handled herself.

The Vikings broke the game open in the top of the fifth inning, as singles by Khorrami and Andrews and a walk drawn by Kanilehua Pitoy loaded the bases with two outs. Rath smoked a 2-1 pitch into the gap in left-center, clearing the bases and prompting a roar from the WWU dugout. Andrewjeski-Ramirez followed with a two-run homer in the next at-bat, making the score 7-1.

Pitching with a comfortable lead, Kimball once again shook off a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the fifth, handling a two-out pop-up herself to strand two more Warhawks on base. Pitoy saved a run in the bottom of the sixth with a diving, back-hand snag on a sharp ground ball off the bat of Derrick. Kimball then induced Shelby Newsome to fly out to Khorrami in center, moving her team three outs away from a victory.

The Warhawks didn’t go down quietly, loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh on three consecutive singles. Kong got the lead runner on a ground ball back to the circle, before Pitoy flipped the final out to Rath at second on another ground ball to leave all three runners on base.

Andrews, Rath and Crum each had a pair of hits for WWU, which scored all seven of its runs on Tuesday with two outs. All seven of the team’s RBIs came from the top four hitters in its lineup, and Andrewjeski-Ramirez moved into a tie for the second-most home runs in a season in GNAC history.

UP NEXT: WWU faces another mighty test on Wednesday, with the powerhouse Greyhounds having won 10 of 12 games thus far in the 2024 postseason. UIndy is led by national pitcher of the year candidate Kenzee Smith, who holds a 0.34 ERA with 278 strikeouts in 264 1/3 innings pitched this season.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRACKET: Wilmington, whom the Vikings beat 2-1 in the opening round of the tournament, survived with a 5-2 win over Augustana in another elimination game Tuesday. Wilmington will face Lenoir-Rhyne in another elimination game at 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, with the winner of that game needing to beat No. 2 seed UT Tyler twice on Wednesday.

GNAC HISTORY IN THE MAKING: WWU is the first team since the GNAC was founded in 2001 to reach the NCAA Division II College World Series. The Vikings finished second in the GNAC regular-season standings with a league record of 19-5, before going 3-0 on their home field to capture the program’s third GNAC Championships tournament trophy. From there, the Vikings went 4-1 at the west regional and defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills 2-1 in a three-game super regional series to advance to the NCAA Championships. Overall in 2024 WWU went 9-2 on its home field in the playoffs. The Vikings set the GNAC record for consecutive wins to start a season with 13, broke the school record with a mid-season, 17-game winning streak and shattered the previous program record for wins in a season which was 34. WWU’s 50 wins this spring are fourth-most in GNAC history, and the most by a conference team since Humboldt State won 54 games in 2006.