Monday, May 9, 2022
PORTLAND, Ore. – For the second straight season and for the third time in program history, Northwest Nazarene will be taking on the region’s best as the Nighthawks are the GNAC’s lone selection to NCAA Division II Softball Championship.
The 64-team field was announced on Monday morning. Selected as the No. 8 seed in the West Region, the Nighthawks will face No. 1 seed Cal State San Marcos in the opening round on Thursday at noon (Pacific).
Other teams in the San Marcos pod include No. 4 seed Sonoma State and No. 5 seed Cal State Monterey Bay. The winner of the San Marcos pod will advance to play the winner of the Concordia pod in the West Super Regional next weekend.
After winning the program’s second consecutive regular-season title, Northwest Nazarene took the long road to win the GNAC Championship and earn the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. After taking a 4-1 loss to Central Washington on Thursday, the Nighthawks picked up a 4-0 win over Western Washington and a 2-1 victory over the Wildcats on Friday to make it to the championship round.
The Nighthawks needed two wins to complete the run and came through in impressive fashion. In game one, the Nighthawks scored five runs in the first three innings and limited Saint Martin’s to one run on three hits for a 10-1, six-inning victory. In game two, the Nighthawks scored all three of their runs in the first inning and once again limited the Saints to one run on four hits for the 3-1 win.
Sophomore Sidney Booth was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after she amassed a 0.63 earned run average, a 2-1 record and had a save in the circle. In four appearances, Booth allowed six runs, two earned, on 14 hits with 14 strikeouts. She also batted .300 in the five games with four RBI, two on sacrifice flies. For the season, the GNAC Pitcher of the Year leads the conference with 17 wins and a 1.76 ERA, striking out 198 batters in 187 innings with 26 complete games. She is also third in the GNAC with a .384 batting average.
Also joining the NNU hit parade is senior Ivy Hommel with a .358 batting average and sophomore Abigail Gagnon with a .313 batting average. As a team, NNU leads the GNAC with a 2.39 earned run average and is second with a .292 batting average.
This is the third time in program history that Northwest Nazarene has qualified for the NCAA Championships. The Nighthawks first qualified in 2018 and went 0-2 in the West Regional. In 2021, the Nighthawks collected a 2-1 victory over Central Washington before taking a 4-3 loss to Biola and a 9-0, five-inning loss to Concordia on the second day of action.