Saturday, May 8, 2021

MONMOUTH, Ore. – In an exciting championship game featuring the top two pitchers in the conference, it took a home run to win it.

Sophomore Brooke Fesenbek’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth broke a 1-1 tie and led Western Washington to the 3-1 victory to win the GNAC Softball Championships on Saturday at Western Oregon University.

Senior Mackenzie Palmer led off the inning with a single before Fesenbek launched the game-winning home run over the center-field wall that gave the Vikings their second GNAC championship in the last four years.

The homer backed up another incredible pitching performance by senior Anna Kasner, who allowed one run on four hits with a walk and a GNAC Championships record 14 strikeouts. Kasner was named the tournament MVP for the second time in her career after she allowed one run on five hits with two walks and 38 strikeouts in three games, which included a no-hitter on Friday against the Nighthawks.

Her NNU counterpart, freshman Sidney Booth, had another solid performance of her own as she allowed three runs on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in the loss.

With the win, Western Washington earns the GNAC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championships. The 48-team field will be announced on Sunday, May 16 at 7 p.m. (Pacific).

After Kasner struck out the side in the first, junior Maia McNicoll put the Nighthawks ahead with her solo home run to left-center field. Tori Hensley followed that up with a double to right but Kasner struck out the next two batters to quell the threat.

Both teams left two runners on base in the bottom of the third and the top of the fourth before Western Washington evened the score in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Tatum Dow drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a double by junior Lauren Lo and scored on a safety squeeze bunt by junior Rylie Wales.

The frame also had the scariest moment of the tournament when NNU senior catcher and GNAC Player of the Year Brittany Genuardi jammed her hands into the screen along the third-base line attempting to make a play on a foul ball but was able to remain in the game after a lengthy delay.

After the Vikings’ two-run sixth, the Nighthawks clung to life in the top of the seventh. McNicoll led off with a double to left but got no further as Kasner coaxed a line out and two more strikeouts to end the game.

McNicoll led Northwest Nazarene offensively by going 2 for 2. Lo led Western Washington by going 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles.

TOURNAMENT NOTES: Kasner was also named the GNAC Championships MVP in 2017, the last time Western Washington won. She finishes her career with a 6-0 record in the tournament. Kasner extended her GNAC career record to 551 strikeouts…Booth finished the tournament allowing four runs on 11 hits with 26 strikeouts and only allowed one run before Saturday’s final. Booth threw a one-hitter against Western Oregon on Friday…Palmer led all players in the GNAC Championships with a .500 average, going 5 for 10 with two runs and a double.