TURLOCK, Calif. – The Western Washington University softball team got off to a great start at the 2019 Tournament of Champions, recording a pair of wins to open the weekend tournament in Turlock, California.

 

WWU defeated Cal State San Bernardino 2-1 in 8 innings in the morning game and came back with a 6-5 win over Azusa Pacific to complete the 2-0 day.

 

The Vikings are now 19-9 on the season, having won six of their last seven and 14 of their last 18 games.

 

"Those were both two big team wins with contributions from everybody to make it happen," said head coach Sheryl Gilmore. "It was great to see our defense really get dialed in and I think the team did a great job of staying in the moment today and fighting for each other."

 

Senior shortstop Cylie Richards was the hitting hero of the day, recording a pair of home runs and a career-high 5 RBI in the game vs. Azusa Pacific.

 

"Cylie has been clutch all season and it was great to see her get those bombs today against Azusa. She deserves it," said Gilmore. "She's worked so hard to get to that point with her swing and it's fun to see her let it fly."

 

Junior center fielder Jackie Lucido tabbed the game-winning hit in the top of the 8^th inning in the one-run victory over Cal State San Bernardino, a team that has been ranked in the top 20 in the nation this season.

 

Senior pitcher Makinlee Sellevold recorded her 12^th win of the season vs. CSUSB, allowing only one run over 8.0 innings for the complete-game victory. In the game vs. the Coyotes, Sellevold allowed only one hit over her final 5.0 innings of work to keep WWU's chances of the victory alive. 

 

"Makinlee threw an absolute gem in the first game and really kept us in it with a very good San Bernardino team," added Gilmore.

 

Senior first baseman Emily Benson was 3-for-7 on the day, including a 3-for-3 performance with a walk against APU. Benson is now batting a team-high .447 (38-for-85).

 

Senior Shearyna Labasan picked up the win in the second game to improve to 5-2 on the season, while sophomore Kira Doan wiggled out of a jam in the 7^th inning to record her first career save.

 

 

The Vikings opened the day with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Cal State San Bernardino in extra innings.

 

San Bernardino got on the board first in the bottom of the 3^rd inning on a one-out RBI single by catcher Dominique Walker. Leadoff hitter Morgan Ratliff reached on a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Walker's sharp single to left field.

 

With starting pitcher Makinlee Sellevold in control, the Vikings knotted things up 1-1 in the top of the 5^th inning. Sophomore second baseman Kira Doan led off with a double to center field, moved to third on a groundout by Lauren Lo and scored on a groundout by sophomore right fielder Mackenzie Palmer.

 

With the international tiebreaker in effect placing a runner on second base to lead off the top of the 8^thinning, the Vikings plated the go-ahead run with one out. Junior center fielder Jackie Lucido scored Palmer on a sharp single up the middle.

 

Also inheriting a runner in scoring position to start the inning, Sellevold put the Coyotes down in order in the bottom of the 8^th inning to seal the win. The senior allowed only one hit over her final five innings to record the complete-game victory, improving to 12-7 on the season.

 

Junior designated player Paityn Cyr recorded her sixth multi-hit game to extend her hitting streak to eight consecutive games, going 2-for-3 to lead the Vikings at the plate. Lucido was 1-for-4 with the game-winning RBI to push her hitting streak to six consecutive games.

 

WWU improved to 18-9 on the season and 3-2 in extra-inning games.

 

 

 

The Vikings jumped out to a 6-1 lead through the first five innings, and then held on for a 6-5 win over Azusa Pacific in the second game of the day played at Warrior Field on the Stanislaus State campus.

 

Senior shortstop Cylie Richards went 2-for-2 with a pair of home runs and a career-high 5 RBI to lead the Vikings at the plate. Richards tabbed her first career multi-home run game with a 2-run home run in the 2^nd inning and added another 2-run shot in the 5^th inning. She also had a sacrifice fly in the 4^thinning to drive in five of WWU's six runs.

 

Senior first baseman Emily Benson was 3-for-3 with a walk as the two seniors out of Kamiakin High School combined for five of WWU's nine hits.

 

Senior pitcher Shearyna Labasan (5-2) earned the win in the circle allowing 10 hits and 4 runs in 6.0 innings. Sophomore Kira Doan recorded the Vikings first save of the season allowing one run in her 1.0 inning of relief work.

 

Leading 6-1, Azusa Pacific mounted a comeback scoring three runs in the top of the 6^th inning on four hits. Labasan escaped the inning getting a lineout double play to keep the lead at 6-4 for the Vikings.

 

Doan took over in the top of the 7^th inning and allowed a run after a triple got by center fielder Jackie Lucido to start the inning. With a runner on first base and pitching with a one-run lead, Doan got a strikeout for the second out of the inning and on the same play the runner at first base with gunned down by sophomore catcher Erica Hardy for the final out of the game. 

 

APU left fielder Melanie Abzun went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and Raquel Espinoza went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Espinoza was also saddled with the loss allowing 7 hits and 5 runs (4 ER) in 4.1 innings. APU out-hit WWU 12-9, with 5 of the 12 hits going for extra bases.

 

 

WWU (19-9) will play three more games in the 18th Annual Tournament of Champions presented by the City of Turlock. WWU faces Dominican (4:30 pm) and Cal State Monterey Bay (7 pm) tomorrow, and close out the tournament Sunday against Cal State East Bay (10 am).

 

The Vikings have hit 29 home runs this season, including 16 over the last 10 games. The 29 home runs are already 6^th-most in single-season program history:

 

 

Cylie Richards recorded her first career 2-homer game, already the fourth multi-home run game by a Viking this season. All have come in the last week, with Seli Aholelei and Emily Benson tabbing 2-HR games Monday at Simon Fraser and Benson on Wednesday at Sonoma State.

 

 

This is the 18^th Tournament of Champions hosted by Stanislaus State in Turlock, and the Vikings have played in all 18 of the tournaments dating back to the first year in 2002. With today's two wins, WWU is now 57-52 all-time in the Tournament of Champions, having posted a .500 or better record in the TOC in 10 of the previous 17 tournaments.

 

Up-to-date season information, including season statistics, bios, roster, schedule and historical information can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com/Softball. WWU Softball also has a strong social media presence on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, so give them a follow!

 

If you can't make it to Viking Field to watch the home games in person, you can tune in to VikingsTV to catch all the action…all GNAC games, home and road, will stream live and feature live stats at GNAC.tv, with home games also streamed live on YouTube…in addition to being available online, all conference matches are available via the GNAC channel on Roku, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV…live links can be accessed through WWUVikings.com/Live.

 

The WWU softball program is in its 27^th season, with the Vikings posting a winning record in 16 seasons and made four trips to the NCAA Division II Championships. WWU won the 1998 NAIA National Championship to record the school's first ever team national title. Over the last five seasons leading up to the 2019 season, the Vikings recorded a 135-104 (.565) record and won the 2017 GNAC Tournament to advance to the NCAA II West Regional in Monterey, California. In the first game of the regional, the No. 8-seed Vikings beat top-seed and regional host Cal State Monterey Bay for the program's first NCAA Championships victory. Head coach Sheryl Gilmore is in her first season at the helm of the program.