Western Washington University softball is headed to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship for the second straight season after outlasting No. 13 nationally ranked Northwest Nazarene, 4-2, in the semifinals on Friday, May 3 at Viking Field.
The No. 2 seeded Vikings (41-7), ranked 14th nationally, took a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning over top-seeded Northwest Nazarene (39-9) and never looked back.
Even with the win, Western will have to face Northwest Nazarene again in the title game at noon on Saturday, May 4 at Viking Field. The Nighthawks eliminated No. 3 Saint Martin’s on Friday following their loss to the Vikings to stay alive.
If Western loses that game, it will have to win another contest right after it to earn the GNAC title. Northwest Nazarene can win the championship with two straight wins over Western on Saturday.
In 2021, Western took home the GNAC title in a 3-1 victory against Northwest Nazarene. In response, the Nighthawks won back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. Now with a chip on their shoulder, the Vikings knew the 2024 tournament would come down to willpower, skill and a little luck.
Western head coach Sheryl Gilmore wanted the team to score early so there was less stress weighing the pitchers down.
“As you get in the postseason, there’s a lot more distractions and a lot more … pressure,” Gilmore said. “So, I think the more we can just stay together and focus on the controllables, the better position we’ll be in to be successful.”
Gilmore said she was proud of the team’s effort and ability to stay focused when the game got tough. From dog barks to chanting players’ nicknames, both dugouts were lively, vocal and distracting throughout the game.
Early in the top of the fourth, senior Taylor Khorrami and junior McKenna Crum got to first and second base before freshman Maleah Andrews doubled to left center field to drive in Khorrami and Crum.
Andrews picked up another run for Western, unearned, on a line drive single from junior Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez three batters later. Suddenly, the Vikings had a sizeable lead.
“My first impression is we came in loose; we came in ready,” Andrewjeski-Ramirez said. “We didn’t care [which pitchers were] coming in, we just wanted to hit the ball and I thought we did a really good job of coming in aggressive and attacking them right away instead of being flat-footed and waiting for them to hit us first.”
But the Nighthawks didn’t go down without a fight. In the bottom of the fourth, Nighthawks sophomore Emma Bumatay waited on second while freshman Keana Bell began to creep away from first. Sophomore Jami Obringer doubled to left field, advancing to third on a fielding error and scoring both baserunners.
Western’s lead shrunk to one in an instant. It didn’t help that the Vikings continued to leave runners on base, totaling 12 in the game.
With bases loaded in the top of the sixth, sophomore Hailey Rath flied out to center field with no outs, allowing Crum to get home.
An ensuing two innings of error-free defense preserved the win for Western.
Andrews finished 2-for-3 batting for the Vikings, adding two RBI and a run scored. Senior Emily Paulson went 2 for 4 at the plate. Northwest Nazarene walked seven Western batters.
Junior pitcher Joie Baker earned the win for Western, but freshman reliever Kaiana Kong earned the save with sound pitching in the latter three innings. Kong allowed just one hit and one walk against 11 batters.
“The message in the circle [after the game] was to just go get some rest and get out of the sun a little bit, eat some food, get some sleep and come back tomorrow,” Gilmore said. “[We want to] enjoy the process, enjoy the opportunity to host, enjoy the kind of position we put ourselves in and hopefully we can win this thing.”
A previous version of this story misspelled Taylor Khorrami’s last name. This story was updated to correct this on Friday, May 3 at 5:10 p.m.
