In 1998, Western Washington University softball won the NAIA World Series — the first national title by a Vikings athletics team in school history. Western joined the NCAA the following year.
Now, in the program’s 32nd season, the Vikings have a chance to carve out a new slice of history when they begin play at the NCAA Division II World Series on Sunday, May 19 at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood, Florida. The games will be broadcast free online (see below).
Western (48-9 overall; 27-2 away from home) is making its first-ever appearance in the World Series after winning its first West Super Regional title on Wednesday, May 15. The Vikings enter as the No. 6 seed in the eight-team tournament.
Western is now the first team from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (founded in 2001) to appear in the World Series.
The Vikings’ first-round game will be against No. 3 Wilmington University (Delaware) at 3:30 p.m. PDT on Sunday.
The World Series, like the West Regional, is a double-elimination tournament split into two, four-team brackets. On Western’s side of the bracket is No. 2 University of Texas, Tyler (53-8), No. 7 Augustana University (50-13) and Wilmington (45-14).
The winners of each half of the bracket will play a best-of-three series for the National Championship May 24–25.
In the other half of the bracket are No. 1 Auburn University, Montgomery (46-12), No. 4 University of Indianapolis (58-5), No. 5 University of Charleston (51-6) and No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne University (50-15).
The teams
No. 2 UT Tyler – South Central Region
This is UT Tyler’s third straight appearance in the World Series and it is 5-4 in the tournament in that span.
The Patriots have the fifth-highest batting average (.331) of the eight teams remaining, fourth-most runs scored (414), fifth-best ERA (1.83) and fifth-most strikeouts (312). The team does, however, have the second-most wins (53).
The Patriots swept through the South Central sub-regional and super regional, winning five in a row after losing to West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference title game, 8-0.
Player to watch: Senior infielder Courtney Plocheck
Plocheck leads UT Tyler with a .406 batting average on 207 plate appearances this season. She has the second-most doubles (20) of any player remaining in the tournament and also boasts a team-high 57 RBIs.
Plocheck is 9 for 27 at the plate (.333) this postseason with five runs scored and eight RBIs.
No. 3 Wilmington – East Region
Wilmington, like UT Tyler, is one of just two teams returning from last year’s World Series.
The Wildcats outscored their opponents 36-0 in their five East Regional games, and they have a combined run differential of 59-8 this postseason.
Wilmington is one of four teams of the final eight to have a .348 team batting average or higher — but it also has a tournament-low 20 home runs (next closest is UT Tyler with 33). Senior utility player Sam Freeland and junior catcher Trisyn Stewart are tied for the third-highest batting average among remaining players in the tournament (.436).
Player to watch: Junior outfielder Tristyn Stewart
For reasons already mentioned, Stewart is one of the most consistent bats, going 9 for 27 (.333) this postseason with four runs scored and six RBIs.
No. 6 Western Washington University – West Region
Team 32 hardly needs an introduction to Vikings fans. Western is here after winning its first GNAC title since 2021, its first West Region sub-regional tourney and its first West Super Regional series. It also hosted each of those events for the first time in program history.
Freshman Maleah Andrews hit a walk-off, solo home run to lead off the eighth inning in game three of its super regional to beat Cal State Dominguez Hills, 7-6.
Western has the lowest batting average (.293) and runs scored (284) of any team remaining, but the odds haven’t mattered to a Vikings team that came back from down 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning in the biggest game in program history.
Western’s pitching staff of junior Joie Baker and freshmen Alli Kimball and Kaiana Kong have a combined 1.78 ERA — ninth best in the nation and third-best among remaining teams.
Player to watch: Junior infielder Kanilehua Pitoy
This was between Kimball, Andrews and Pitoy. Remove any one of them from this team and the Vikings probably aren’t in the World Series. Pitoy, however, has had the timely bat.
She hit a walk-off double in the first game of the West Regional against Azusa Pacific and followed that up with her three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh of the super regional final to trim Cal State Dominguez Hills’ four-run lead to one.
This postseason, Pitoy is 12-for-34 batting (.353) with four runs scored and seven RBIs.
No. 7 Augustana – Central Region
Don’t be fooled by Augustana’s seventh-seed designation — the Vikings are not a team anyone wants to face right now.
Augustana is on a 32-game winning streak dating back to March 23, and it is the only team in the World Series that has won a National Championship (1991 and 2019). It also beat two top-10 nationally ranked teams in the Central Regional to reach the Elite Eight (No. 5 Pittsburg State and No. 10 Rogers State).
Augustana has the second-most runs scored (403) and home runs (87) of any team remaining in the tournament, and the second-lowest ERA (1.68).
Player to watch: Senior pitcher Grace Glanzer
Glanzer had the second-lowest ERA in the nation this season (.66) behind only the University of Indianapolis’ Kenzee Smith — both of whom are in the World Series.
In 215 innings pitched, she has allowed 111 hits, 19 earned runs and 31 walks while striking out 196 batters. Glanzer also has 15 shutouts on the year and has allowed just four earned runs in the Vikings’ last 11 games.
How to watch
All games during the 2024 NCAA Division II Softball National Championship can be streamed live and free online by visiting NCAA.com/liveschedule. Western fans can find the Viking logo and click to watch the game, according to WWU. A direct link also is available by bookmarking wwuvikings.com/SB_Watch.
Connor J. Benintendi is a former CDN sports reporter, send tips and information to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
