TURLOCK, Calif. – The Western Washington University softball team continued its winning ways at the Tournament of Champions, combining to outscore its two opponents on Saturday 20-1 in a pair of wins at the Pedretti Sports Complex.

 

WWU opened the afternoon with a 13-1 victory over Dominican (CA) and then shutout perennial West Coast power Cal State Monterey Bay 7-0 in the nightcap. WWU's pitching by senior starters Shearyna Labasan and Makinlee Sellevold combined to allow only one unearned run and 10 hits over 14.0 innings.

 

Western is now 21-9 on the season and have won eight of its last nine, and 16 of its last 20 games.

 

Senior first baseman Emily Benson continued her All-America-caliber season going 6-for-7 with 3 runs scored, 3 doubles, one home run (13^th of the season, 44^th of career) and 8 RBI. In the game vs. Dominican she tied WWU single-game records with 5 hits and 7 RBI, going 5-for-5. Benson is now batting .478 (44-for-92) with 30 runs scored, 9 doubles, 1 triple, 13 home runs and 42 RBI in 30 games this season. She has a 1.022 slugging percentage and 1.585 OPS.

 

Junior Paityn Cyr went 5-for-8 with a double and 3 RBI and Sellevold and junior outfielder Seli Aholelei each had 3-hit games. Overall the Vikings out-hits the Penguins and Otters 25-10 in the two games.

 

WWU is 4-0 in the Tournament of Champions, joining UC San Diego, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Sonoma State as the only undefeated teams in the 27-team tournament.

 

The Vikings close out play in the Tournament of Champions on Sunday facing Cal State East Bay at 10 am at the Turlock Regional Sports Complex (Field 1).

 

 

Senior first baseman Emily Benson tied the WWU single-game records for hits and RBI in a game, going 5-for-5 with two doubles, a 3-run home run and 7 total RBI to lead the Vikings to a 13-1 win over Dominican in the first game of the day.

 

Benson recorded the third 5-hit game and the fourth 7-RBI game in program history. She also tied the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record for hits in a game. She also broke her own single-season home run record with her 13^th homer of the season (had 12 in 2016 and 2017) and pulled to within one home run of the all-time GNAC mark with her 44^th career longball.

 

Junior left fielder Seli Aholelei added a pair of doubles in a 3-for-5 performance at the plate and junior designated player Paityn Cyr was 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI. WWU out-hit the Penguins 13-4.

 

Dominican jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1^st inning, but the Vikings tied the game in the 3^rd inning on back-to-back two-out doubles by Aholelei and Benson. 

 

The Vikings poured it on scoring 12 runs over the final three innings, including a 5-run top of the 7^thinning.

 

Benson singled in the 1^st and 5^th innings, doubled in the 3^rd and 7^th innings and hit a 3-run home run in the 6^th inning. 

 

Senior starting pitcher Shearyna Labasan improved to 6-2 on the season allowing 4 hits and one unearned run in the complete-game victory. She retired 12 of 13 batters from the 2^nd through 6^thinning and allowed only one hit over the final five innings of her performance. 

 

Dominican (6-19) starting pitcher Alyssa Waltman recorded the loss allowing 4 hits and 2 runs in 4.0 innings to fall to 1-8 on the season.

 

 

 

Senior starting pitcher Makinlee Sellevold recorded her fourth shutout of the season and also went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI at the plate to lead the Vikings to a 7-0 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay.

 

Sellevold improved to 13-7 on the season with her 56^th career victory, scattering 6 hits and striking out 6 without allowing a walk in her 12^th complete game effort of the season (out of 20 starts). 

 

The Vikings set the tone early in the nightcap, when sophomore second baseman Kira Doan caught the second out in the top of the 1^st inning in foul territory, and fired home to cut down the potential go-ahead run for the double play.

 

WWU carried the momentum from the strong defensive play to the plate, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1^st inning. Senior Emily Benson continued her torrid streak with a run-scoring double to right field to plate Makinlee Sellevold from first base. 

 

The Vikings virtually put the game out of reach with a 5-run bottom of the 2^nd inning, with Sellevold driving home a pair of runs with a single to center field. Western capitalized on a pair of Monterey Bay errors in the inning leading to five unearned runs.

 

WWU added a run in the 4^th inning with a bases loaded walk by senior shortstop Cylie Richards to extend the lead to 7-0.

 

Sellevold (3-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI) and junior designated player Paityn Cyr (3-for-4) combined for 6 of the Vikings 12 hits in the game. Senior Emily Benson went 1-for-2 with a run-scoring double and drew a pair of walks.

 

Monterey ( starting pitcher Celeste Villagrana (6-7) suffered the loss allowing 12 hits and 7 runs (2 ER) in a complete-game effort. She walked 4 and struck out 4 in her 6.0-inning outing. Leadoff hitter Jess Barrow went 2-for-3 with a double to lead the Otters at the plate.

 

 

WWU (21-9) closes out the tournament Sunday against Cal State East Bay (10 am) and then returns home to Bellingham. Following the TOC, WWU will begin the second half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season with road contests at Saint Martin's in Lacey (Saturday, April 6) and Central Washington in Ellensburg (Sunday, April 7). WWU heads into the second half of conference play in 2^nd place in the standings with an 11-3 record, narrowly trailing first-place CWU (10-2).

 

Emily Benson hit her 13^th home run of the season on Saturday, the 44^th of her career to pull to within one homer of the all-time GNAC record held by Jessica Hallmark of Western Oregon (2008-11).

 

 

The Vikings have hit 30 home runs this season, including 17 over the last 11 games. The 30 home runs are already 6^th-most in single-season program history:

 

 

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 59-52 all-time in the Tournament of Champions, having posted a .500 or better record in the TOC in 11 of the 18 tournaments (including 2019).

 

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!

 

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.