Game 1 - Box Score | Game 2 - Box Score

NAMPA, Idaho - The Western Washington University softball team hit its way to a doubleheader sweep over Northwest Nazarene, beating the Crusaders 10-6 in the first game and coming from behind in an 11-10 win in the nightcap on Friday in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at Halle Field.

With the victories, the Vikings extended their winning streak to a season-high six consecutive games, improving to 28-17 overall and 17-9 in GNAC play. WWU remains in 3rd place (by percentage points) in the GNAC and has secured a postseason berth into the GNAC Championships that will be played May 4-6 in Lacey, Wash. NNU drops to 23-25 overall, but remains in the postseason picture with a 13-13 league mark.

"Today was a great day for us. We overcame some big challenges in the second game and it was nice to see the competitive spirit," said head coach Amy Suiter, in her 7th year leading the program. "We had some defensive lapses in the second game, but Makinlee (Sellevold) got us through it with some extreme toughness in the circle."

Freshman designated player Anna Kasner (Milton, WA/Fife) starred for the Vikings at the plate, combining to go 6-for-9 with 9 RBI and hit for the cycle between the two games. In the first game she was 4-for-5 with 5 RBI (HR short of the cycle) and then went 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and a 3-run home run in the second game. Kasner, one of the top pitchers in the GNAC as well with a league-leading 153 strikeouts, is a top contender for conference Freshman of the Year honors.

"Anna had a phenomenal day at the plate with nine RBI, with five of those coming with two outs in key situations," added Suiter. "She is helping is in just about every area you can imagine."

Overall the Vikings combined for 21 runs and 32 hits in the doubleheader. Junior Makinlee Sellevold (Everett, WA/Cascade) went 5-for-9 (2 2B, 3B, HR, 5 RBI) to continue her late-season binge at the plate and junior Emily Benson (West Richland, WA/Kamiakin) was 5-for-9 to also lead the way at the plate. Junior Sarah Morrow (Enumclaw, WA) went 4-for-10 in the doubleheader and capped WWU's big comeback in the second game with a two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the 7th inning for the game-winning RBI.

"Makinlee also had some clutch hits and just keeps providing that lift in the middle of the order with Emily Benson," continued Suiter.

WWU closes out the regular season with another doubleheader against Northwest Nazarene starting at 12 pm MT/11 am PT.

"We just need to finish strong tomorrow and continue this positive frame of mind and solid play leading up to the GNAC Tournament," said Suiter.

The Vikings scored in each of the first four innings to build a 7-3 lead and then held off a late NNU charge in a 10-6 win in the first game of the doubleheader.

The victory officially sealed a berth in the GNAC Championships, moving the Vikings to 16-9 in league play.

Anna Kasner was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, going 4-for-5 with 5 RBI. She had a run-scoring single in the 1st inning, an RBI double in the 3rd inning, a 2-run single in the 4th inning and drove in her fifth run of the game with a triple in the 6th inning. In her final plate appearance, she lined out to center field to fall short of the elusive cycle.

Sarah Morrow added 3 hits and scored a pair of runs from the second spot in the lineup, and junior shortstop Cylie Richards (Kennewick, WA) went 2-for-3 with her third home run of the season.

Sophomore Shearyna Labasan (Mililani, HI/Maryknoll) recorded the complete-game victory in the circle allowing 12 hits and 6 runs to improve to 11-5 on the season.

NNU scored three runs in its final at-bat, and had the potential tying run on deck when Labasan got third baseman Abigail Otto to ground out to end the game.

The Crusaders were led by multi-hit games from center fielder Cassidy Fifield (2-for-3, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI), first baseman Kylie Orr (2-for-3, RBI), Otto (2-for-4) and left fielder Lily Paschal (2-for-3, RBI). Starting pitcher Brooke Bonsen, who went 2-0 vs. the Vikings last season, fell to 12-11 on the season allowing 12 hits and 7 runs (6 ER) in 4.0 innings.

Western Washington 10, Northwest Nazarene 6 (Apr 28, 2017 at Nampa, ID)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington.. 111 401 2 - 10 15  1      (27-17, 16-9 GNAC)Northwest Nazarene.. 002 100 3 -  6 12  2      (23-24, 13-12 GNAC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington - Labasan and HughesNorthwest Nazarene - Bonsen; Watkins (5); Young (7) and SylvesterWin-Labasan (11-5)  Loss-Bonsen (12-11)  T-1:57HR WWU - Richards,Cy. (3) ; HR NNU - Fifield (6)Weather: Sunny, windy, mid 50s

The Vikings trailed 5-0 (after 2 innings) and 8-5 (after 4 innings), but battled back from each deficit to record a come-from-behind 11-10 victory in the second game of the doubleheader to record the sweep of the Crusaders.

NNU got off to a quick start plating four runs in the bottom of the 1st inning off starter Makinlee Sellevold, and increased the lead to 5-0 with a single tally in the 2nd inning.

Western erased the lead with 5 runs in the top of the 3rd inning with Sellevold tabbing a 2-run double and Kasner blasting a 3-run home run.

The Crusaders fought back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning to retake the lead at 8-5, but WWU would not go away, scoring 6 runs over the final three innings to record the comeback victory.

Trailing 9-6, the Vikings took their first lead of the game scoring 4 runs in the top of the 6th inning. Shearyna Labasan got things started with a run-scoring single and then Sellevold helped her own cause with a 2-run home run to tie the game at 9-9. Kasner then provided another big hit with a run-scoring single up the middle to give the Vikings the 10-9 lead.

NNU again answered with a single tally in the bottom of the 6th inning on a leadoff home run by designated player Lisa Sylvester, and had a pair of runners on base with Sellevold induced an inning-ending 4-3 double play.

Sarah Morrow plated the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run in the top of the 7th inning on a two-out single to center field to score Paityn Cyr (Fr., Mount Vernon, WA). Sellevold then worked a quick bottom half of the inning to seal the 11-10 win to improve to 5-7 on the season.

Sellevold, the reigning GNAC Player of the Week, continued her late-season surge at the plate going 4-for-5 with 3 extra-base hits (2 2B, HR) and 4 RBI. Labasan (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI), Emily Benson (2-for-5, R, RBI), Carlie Richards (3-for-3, R, 2B), Kasner (2-for-4, R, 4 RBI) and Cyr (2-for-2, 2 R) all tabbed multi-hit games.

NNU starting pitcher Rylee Thomas (9-9) was saddled with the loss allowing 13 hits and 9 runs in 6.2 innings. Six Crusaders each recorded a pair of hits, with the top four hitters in the lineup combining to go 8-for-16 with 7 runs scored and 5 RBI. Catcher Brittany Genuardi was 2-for-3 with 2 runs, 3 RBI and hit her 9th home run of the season.

Western Washington 11, Northwest Nazarene 10 (Apr 28, 2017 at Nampa, ID)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington.. 005 014 1 - 11 17  3      (28-17, 17-9 GNAC)Northwest Nazarene.. 410 311 0 - 10 13  1      (23-25, 13-13 GNAC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington - Sellevold and Richards,CaNorthwest Nazarene - Thomas; Byron (7) and GenuardiWin-Sellevold (5-7)  Loss-Thomas (9-9)  T-2:05  A-123HR WWU - Sellevold (6); Kasner (2); HR NNU - Genuardi (9); Sylvester (2)Weather: Sunny, windy, high 50s

Game Notes: The 6-game winning streak is the longest by WWU since also winning 6 straight to end the 2015 regular season (April 12-25)...have not won more than 6 consecutive games since an 11-game winning streak in 2007 (April 22-May 5)...Makinlee Sellevold tied a single-game WWU record with a pair of doubles in G#2 and now has 33 career doubles to rank 4th in WWU career history...her 13th career home run (#6 this season) also moved her into a tie for 6th place in WWU history...Sellevold has recorded 28 RBI over her last 17 games to take over the team lead in that category with 38 RBI on the season (9th-most in WWU single-season history)...Emily Benson is now batting .454 (54-for-119) on the season, on pace to break the WWU single-season batting average record...Carlie Richards is batting .420 (37-for-88) and has reached base safely in 30 of 33 games played...Sarah Morrow is batting .380 (19-for-50) with 18 runs scored over her last 15 games (since April 8)...the 17 hits in G#2 were the 2nd-most in a game this season, one short of 18 recorded Feb. 7 at BYU Hawai'i...scored in double digits in back-to-back games for the first time since a 5-game stretch last season.

-- @WWUSoftball1 --