Friday, January 26, 2024
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – For the second year in a row, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball coaches have unanimously selected three-time reigning conference champion Northwest Nazarene as the preseason favorite, as the 2024 preseason poll was unveiled on Friday.

With the fast-approaching campaign just one week away, the Nighthawks received all seven first-place votes to top the poll with 49 points. NNU emerged as the clear favorite ahead of second-place Western Washington, which totaled 41 points in the preseason coaches poll. The Nighthawks are led by four-time GNAC Coach of the Year Rich Wagner, who piloted his team to the GNAC Championships title and into the NCAA West Region Championships finals last year. NNU was ranked No. 25 in the 2024 NFCA preseason coaches poll.

Points awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis

The Nighthawks became the third school since the conference was founded in 2001-02 to win at least three consecutive GNAC regular-season titles last spring, doing so in one of the most dominant league performances the GNAC has ever seen.

NNU cruised to a record of 39-17 overall, while going 21-3 in conference games to run away with the regular-season title. It was the fewest conference losses by a GNAC team since Cal Poly Humboldt (then Humboldt State) went 22-1 in 2006 to close out a stretch of five-consecutive GNAC regular-season titles. Central Washington is the other program to win at least three titles in a row, claiming four straight from 2016-19 including a share of the 2018 title with the Nighthawks.

Two-time GNAC Pitcher of the Year and GNAC Championships MVP Sidney Booth is as good as they come in terms of the league’s two-way players, and is coming off a season in which she led the league in ERA (1.73), innings pitched (194.1), strikeouts (177), wins (21), and ranked second in opponents batting average (.213). The senior also contributed offensively with three home runs, 31 RBIs and a batting average of .265 while starting all 65 of NNU’s games.

Junior Clarissa Moreno is among NNU’s top returners offensively, after slashing .306/.481/.406 with six home runs and 32 RBIs last spring. Emma Mulligan is another reliable upperclassman that NNU will count on, after starting all 56 games and reaching base at a clip of .400. NNU will have to replace the production of Tori Hensley, who ranked third in the GNAC with a batting average of .383 and 2023 GNAC Player of the Year Maia McNicoll, who led the league with 45 RBIs while ranking fourth with a slugging percentage of .562.

Western Washington earned the second-place spot in the poll after going 26-23 last spring and finishing third in the GNAC with a 13-11 conference record. Sheryl Gilmore enters her sixth season in charge of the Vikings, accumulating an overall record of 115-91 entering the 2024 campaign.

The reigning GNAC Freshman of the Year, Hailey Rath broke into her collegiate career by leading the conference with a slugging percentage of .635. Rath ranked fifth in hitting (.371) and on-base percentage (.449), while homering seven times and driving in a GNAC-third best 37 runs.

The Vikings will look to junior Joie Baker to help fill the void of 2023 GNAC Pitcher of the Year/Newcomer of the Year Mareena Ramirez, who posted a 2.17 ERA with 174 strikeouts in 180 2/3 innings of work last spring. Baker carried a 4.01 ERA and logged 57 2/3 innings during her sophomore season with the Vikings.

Saint Martin’s is back in the upper-half of the preseason poll, after finishing as the runner-up in 2023 with a record of 29-18 including 15-9 in conference play. Jim Peterson begins his seventh season as the leader of the Saints, who have posted four consecutive winning seasons and back-to-back second-place finishes in the GNAC standings.

SMU welcomes back the conference’s leading hitter from last season in Haley Agena, who slashed .410/.475/.556 to rank in the top-five in the conference in all three categories. Senior Britney Patrick is another of the Saints’ top returners, after hitting .328 with 29 RBIs and 11 doubles last spring.

In the circle, senior left-hander Tia Ridings is a proven force within the conference after posting an ERA of 3.10 across 119 2/3 innings in 2023. Chloe Leverington is also back for the Saints, after eating up 87 innings and carrying a solid ERA of 3.46.

Western Oregon was the other GNAC team projected to finish above the championship cut line, receiving 25 points in the preseason poll after placing fourth in the conference last year. The Wolves went 22-30 overall and finished 11-13 in conference play behind first-year head coach Aly Boytz.

Maddie Doig and Natalie Willoughby both return for the Wolves after leading the team each with a .327 batting average a season ago. Willoughby was among three WOU players who had three home runs, while Doig also paced the squad with 22 RBIs last year. WOU will need to replace three-time all-conference pitcher Maddie Mayer, who had a 2.42 ERA across a team-high 164 2/3 innings pitched last spring. UTEP transfer Mackenzee Collins could see significant action as a newcomer to the conference this spring, after playing three seasons in the Division I program.

Joe DiPietro begins his third season in charge of the Central Washington softball program, which was slated fifth in the preseason poll with 19 points. The Wildcats are looking to improve upon last season’s sixth-place finish, going 21-27 overall and 9-15 in GNAC play.

Catcher Alyssa Benthagen is the Wildcats’ most experienced returner, entering her fifth collegiate season on the heels of ranking sixth in the GNAC in batting average (.351) a season ago. Benthagen also delivered seven home runs and 36 RBIs last year, both figures ranking her fourth in the conference, and led the league with an on-base percentage of .476. Ashlee Laver is the team’s top returning pitcher on paper, after turning in a 2.50 ERA in 140 innings pitched in 2023. Payton Kessler was also in the top-10 in the conference in ERA at 3.37, while striking out 46 hitters in 62 1/3 innings.

Missing the GNAC Championships by just one game last season, Montana State Billings will look to get over the hump this spring with direction from 10th-year head coach Lisa McKinney. The Yellowjackets were slated sixth in the preseason poll with 17 points, after going 18-28 last year and staying in the playoff race until the very end with a league record of 10-14.

Fifth-year senior Marin Penney is set for her final collegiate campaign, after leading the GNAC in home runs (12) and ranking third in the league in slugging percentage (.609) a season ago. Teagan Seeton had a standout freshman campaign in 2023, ranking eighth in the GNAC with a batting average of .333, and hometown slugger Lauren Blaschak is back after hitting five home runs and adding 11 doubles during her sophomore season. The ‘Jackets will turn to a revamped pitching rotation after the departure of seniors Alyssa Etheridge and Julia Qualteri, who accounted for 272 of 296 innings pitched in 2023. Colorado Christian transfer Elaina Troxell (LHP), Salt Lake CC transfer Ella Crookston (RHP) and Feather River College transfer Caitlyn James (RHP) all figure to slot into immediate innings this spring.

Simon Fraser received 10 points and was projected to finish seventh in the preseason poll, after going 11-36 in 2023 including a seventh-place GNAC finish with a record of 5-19. The Red Leafs will be under the guidance of first-year head coach Stacy Fournier in 2024.

Megan Duclos was rewarded with first-team all-conference honors after ranking second in the conference with a batting average of .409, as the Red Leafs will count on the outfielder to build upon last season’s offensive production. Both Kristen Davyduke, who was third in the GNAC with eight home runs, and Abby McGlynn, who was second in the league with 41 RBIs, are back on the roster for SFU in 2024. Shaneika Hollingworth shouldered 99 2/3 innings of work as a sophomore last season, and returns to the SFU rotation this year.

The 2024 GNAC softball season kicks off with 10 consecutive days of action, beginning with a full slate of 14 games on Feb. 2. Conference play begins the weekend of March 8-10, with the top-four teams in the final standings earning berths into the 2024 GNAC Softball Championships. The conference tournament runs May 2-4 and will be hosted by Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., with the winner earning the league’s automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA West Region Championships. The complete 2024 GNAC softball schedule can be accessed online here.