Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

NAMPA, Idaho - The Western Washington University softball team continued its last-season surge with a doubleheader sweep of Northwest Nazarene Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale for both teams in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at Halle Field.

The Vikings defeated the Crusaders 16-8 in the first game and capped a perfect 4-0 road trip to Idaho with a 10-4 victory in the nightcap. WWU heads into the postseason at the GNAC Championships next week as either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed, finishing the regular season with a 30-17 overall record and 19-9 mark in league play. Western has won a season-high 8 consecutive games and heads into the postseason having won 13 of its last 15 games.

"I am really happy with where we have put ourselves for the GNAC tournament," said head coach Amy Suiter. "We are playing well right now. There are always adjustments to make, but we are having fun and have some momentum going into the tournament, which is huge."

Saturday's sweep of the Crusaders featured 26 runs scored on 25 hits, including 7 home runs. Those totals go with a barrage of 21 runs and 32 hits in Friday's doubleheader to finish the Idaho road trip with 47 runs scored in the four games, while combining to bat .399 (57-for-143, 9 2B, 3 3B, 10 HR).

"Honestly the entire lineup is swinging it well and making adjustments pitch to pitch," added Suiter. "It's taking pressure off us in the circle as well. They are a confident bunch right now and continue to produce runs up and down the lineup."

Leading the way for WWU in Saturday's sweep were junior third baseman/pitcher Makinlee Sellevold (Everett, WA/Cascade) and freshman designated player Anna Kasner (Milton, WA/Fife). Kasner went 4-for-8 with a home run and 5 RBI, and Sellevold was 4-for-9 while homering in each game and driving in 9 runs.

The duo became the first pair of Viking teammates to hit a grand slam in the same game when both cleared the fences with the bases loaded in the 16-8 game one victory.

Junior first baseman Emily Benson (West Richland, WA/Kamiakin) also homered in each game of the doubleheader, bringing her season total to 12 longballs to tie her own school record for home runs in a single season (set last year).

Freshman Paityn Cyr (Mount Vernon, WA) also hit her 5th home run of the season and junior Cylie Richards (Kennewick, WA/Kamiakin) homered for the third time in her last five games (#4 on the season).

"There are so many great performances to highlight, but really it was a total team effort this weekend and in the second half of the season," said Suiter. "Anna (Kasner), Makinlee (Sellevold), Emily (Benson), Carlie and Cylie (Richards)...I could name the whole team. Everyone is contributing and that's what we need going into the postseason."

The Vikings will now wait for the rest of the GNAC to finish the season tomorrow before learning who they will play next Thursday in the opening round of the GNAC Championships in Lacey, Wash.

The Vikings fell behind early, but once again answered in a big way en route to the 16-8 victory in the first game of the doubleheader.

NNU scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning off starting pitcher Shearyna Labasan (Mililani, HI/Maryknoll), but WWU answered with a 5-run 3rd inning and never looked back.

After one-out singles from Sarah Morrow (Jr., Enumclaw, WA) and Makinlee Sellevold, and a two-out hit-by-pitch to Carlie Richards (Jr., Kennewick, WA/Kamiakin), Anna Kasner delivered a grand slam to left-center field to tie the game at 4-4. A pair of NNU errors brought in the fifth run of the inning and the Vikings would lead the rest of the way.

The Vikings put the game away with a 7-run top of the 5th inning, with Sellevold (grand slam) and Emily Benson hitting back-to-back home runs to greet relief pitcher Rylee Thomas.

WWU would add a pair of runs in each the 6th and 7th innings, with Cylie Richards hitting WWU's season-high fourth home run of the game with a 2-run shot in the 6th inning.

Sellevold (2-for-5, HR, 4 RBI), Kasner (2-for-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) and Paityn Cyr (2-for-4, RBI) all recorded multi-hit games for the Vikings.

Labasan (12-5) earned the win in the circle allowing 8 runs (7 ER) and 13 hits in 6.0 innings, while sophomore Morgan VanRiper (Kalama, WA) closed the game out with a scoreless 7th inning.

NNU was led by a 3-for-4 game from first baseman Kylie Orr (2B, HR) and a pair of doubles by leadoff hitter Cassidy Fifield. Starting pitcher Brooke Bonsen (12-12) was saddled with the loss allowing 9 hits and 7 runs (6 ER) in 4.1 innings.

Western Washington 16, Northwest Nazarene 8 (Apr 29, 2017 at Nampa, ID)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington.. 005 072 2 - 16 12  1      (29-17, 18-9 GNAC)Northwest Nazarene.. 400 040 0 -  8 14  4      (23-26, 13-14 GNAC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington - Labasan; VanRiper (7) and HughesNorthwest Nazarene - Bonsen; Thomas (5); Watkins (7) and SylvesterWin-Labasan (12-5)  Loss-Bonsen (12-12)  T-2:12HR WWU - Sellevold (7); Benson (11); Kasner (3); Richards,Cy (4); HR NNU - Orr (8)Weather: Sunny, High 50s

WWU and NNU were locked in a close game with the Vikings holding a 3-1 lead through the first four innings, before Western scored 7 runs in the 5th and 6th innings combined to break the game open for a 10-4 victory.

The Vikings again used the longball to their advantage, with Emily Benson breaking a 1-1 tie with a 2-run home run in the top of the 3rd inning. The homer was her 12th of the season to match the single-season program record she set last season.

Makinlee Sellevold fueled the 7-run outburst driving in 5 of the runs with a 2-run double (5th inning) and 3-run home run (6th inning). She also notched the complete-game victory in the circle to improve to 6-7 on the season, limiting NNU to 6 hits and 4 runs, while recording 5 strikeouts.

The top five batters in the WWU lineup (Labasan, Morrow, Sellevold, Benson, Kasner) combined to go 9-for-19 with 8 RBI.

NNU third baseman Abigail Otto recorded the lone multi-hit game for the Crusaders going 2-for-3 and catcher Lisa Sylvester hit her third home run of the season. Brooke Bonsen (12-13) suffered her second loss of the day allowing 10 hits and 10 runs in 5.2 innings.

Western Washington 10, Northwest Nazarene 4 (Apr 29, 2017 at Nampa, ID)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington.. 012 034 0 - 10 13  0      (30-17, 19-9 GNAC)Northwest Nazarene.. 100 012 0 -  4  6  0      (23-27, 13-15 GNAC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington - Sellevold and Richards,CaNorthwest Nazarene - Bonsen; Young (6) and SylvesterWin-Sellevold (6-7)  Loss-Bonsen (12-13)  T-1:42  A-232HR WWU - Sellevold (8); Benson (12); Cyr (5); HR NNU - Sylvester (3)Weather: sunny, light breeze, 60

Game Notes: The 8-game winning streak is the longest by WWU since an 11-game winning streak in 2007 (April 22-May 5)...Makinlee Sellevold has homered in three consecutive games and her 8 home runs are tied for 5th in WWU single-season history...Sellevold has recorded 37 RBI over her last 19 games to lead the team with 47 RBI on the season...Emily Benson hit her 30th and 31st career home runs, becoming the 12th player in GNAC history to reach the 30-homer mark in a career...Benson has a slash line of .445/.805/.570 (AVG/SLG/OBP), currently the best marks in each category in single-season WWU history...Anna Kasner combined to go 10-for-17 (.588) with 6 extra-base hits (2B-3, 3B-1, HR-2) and 14 RBI in the four-game series at NNU...WWU scored in double digits all four games during the series at NNU (47 total runs), the longest streak of consecutive games scoring 10+ runs since a 5-game stretch last season (at CWU & MSUB)...WWU swept NNU after they were named the GNAC Team of the Week.

-- @WWUSoftball1--