Freshman Maleah Andrews’ walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning capped off a last gasp, five-run rally in the final two innings and Western Washington University softball pulled off a miraculous 7-6 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills in the NCAA Division II West Super Regional final on Wednesday, May 15 at Viking Field.
Andrews’ homer was the exclamation point on Western earning its first-ever Elite Eight berth after erasing a four-run deficit entering the bottom of the seventh inning.
“I’m a high emotions player for sure. My heart rate was definitely jacked going up to the plate,” Andrews said. “I saw that ball gone; I had to do it for my team. We want to keep going. We’ve got seniors we’re playing for and I just wanted to make sure we did it all.”
Junior Kanilehua Pitoy hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to spark the Vikings’ rally from its 6-2 deficit. Suddenly down by one, Western’s energy — which was largely absent all day — surged.
“[Pitoy and Andrews] don’t run from it. They’re clutch, and our definition of clutch is do what you normally do when it matters most, and they do that,” Western head coach Sheryl Gilmore said.
Western had five hits in the bottom of the seventh alone, matching its total from the rest of the previous game.
After Pitoy’s homer, sophomore Hailey Rath reached second on a pair of CSUDH errors, and junior Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez singled to advance junior Lexi Barcomb, who was running for Rath.
The magic didn’t stop there.
Vikings senior Ashley Jacobson put it in play, reaching first on a fielder’s choice as CSUDH’s second baseman tagged Andrewjeski-Ramirez. Meanwhile, Barcomb slid into home for the tying run.
“They were still bringing energy, they still were fighting. They still believed something good could happen,” Gilmore said. “They’re just never out of it. It stresses me out a little bit, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
After thwarting CSUDH’s offense in the top of the eighth, Andrews crushed the game-winning homer on the Vikings’ first at-bat of the inning.
Western (48-9) now advances to the eight-team NCAA Division II Championships Finals May 19–25 at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood, Florida.
“At our very first meeting [this season], we had a little Viking ship, and we animated it so it took us to Florida,” Gilmore said. “We knew that Florida was the goal from the very first day these guys got together. It’s really cool that we get to see it happen.”
Cal State Dominguez Hills (39-21) saw its season end. The Toros pushed the Vikings to the limit, beating Western in game two to force a third game in the afternoon.
The finals begin with a pair of four-team, double-elimination brackets (similar to the league and regional tournaments). The winners of those brackets will face off in a best-of-three national championship series.
Western, the No. 6 seed out of eight teams, will be in the same bracket as No. 2 UT Tyler (53-8), No. 3 Wilmington University (45-14) and No. 7 Augustana University (50-13).
The Vikings will face Wilmington in the first round at 3:30 p.m. PST at Sunday, May 19.
Western, in its most prolific season in program history, has now won its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference title since 2021, won its first West Regional title (after being 1-10 all-time in the tournament prior) and reached its first Elite Eight in program history.
If that wasn’t enough, Western also pulled off the most off-the-wall comeback in the program’s biggest game.
“It was definitely the craziest softball game I’ve ever been a part of, hands down,” Gilmore said.
Connor J. Benintendi is a former CDN sports reporter, send tips and information to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
