BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University softball team opened its stretch of 8 games over a 5-day span with a doubleheader split against Western Oregon in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on Friday afternoon at Viking Field. WWU earned a commanding 13-1 win in 5 innings during the opener before WOU responded to take game two, 6-1.
Friday’s doubleheader was the result of a rescheduled rainout from earlier in the season that was originally scheduled to be played at Western Oregon. As a result, WOU (22-17, 9-9 GNAC) was the home team for both of Friday’s games while WWU (21-16, 10-8 GNAC) was the visiting team even though the games were played at Viking Field.
Junior left fielder Sarah Morrow (Enumclaw, WA) was 4-for-6 with 4 runs and 2 RBI for the Vikings during the day, including 3 extra-base hits (2 doubles, 1 triple). She tied the program single-game record with 2 doubles in the game one victory. Junior third baseman/pitcher Makinlee Sellevold (Everett, WA/Cascade) went 3-for-6 with 5 RBI and a run for the day, tying a career high with 4 RBI in game one.
Junior catcher/outfielder Carlie Richards (Kennewick, WA/Kamiakin) was 3-for-6 with an RBI and a run in extending her streak of reaching base safely to 24 games. Sophomore third baseman/designated player Shearyna Labasan (Mililani, HI/Maryknoll) was 3-for-7 with 3 runs and an RBI while junior first baseman Emily Benson (West Richland, WA/Kamiakin) had a hit in each game to extend her hit streak to 6 games.
Freshman pitcher/designated player Anna Kasner (Milton, WA/Fife) started in the circle and earned the win in game one to claim a victory for the sixth consecutive start. She concluded the day with 7.1 innings pitched, allowing only 4 hits and 1 run with 9 strikeouts following a relief appearance in game two.
The Vikings and Wolves will play another doubleheader on Saturday at Viking Field. WWU continues its homestand by hosting a doubleheader against Concordia on Sunday before Simon Fraser travels to Bellingham for a doubleheader on Tuesday.
The Vikings are currently in 3rd place in the GNAC standings (10-8 GNAC) with 10 regular-season games remaining, just ahead of Northwest Nazarene (11-11 GNAC) and Western Oregon (9-9 GNAC). WWU is a game back of Saint Martin’s (11-7) in 2nd place. The top 4 teams in the GNAC standings at the end of the regular season advance to the postseason GNAC Championships.