MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Washington University softball team split its Saturday doubleheader at Western Oregon University in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
The Vikings dropped the first game 5-4 on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning and rebounded with a 7-2 victory in the nightcap.
WWU is now 26-19 overall and remains in 3rd place in the GNAC with a 12-6 record.
Senior first baseman
Dakota Brooks led the Vikings at the plate combining to go 5-for-10 with three runs scored, a pair of doubles and three RBI in the doubleheader. Brooks hit a two-run home run in the second game for her team-leading seventh home run of the season.
Senior
Tatum Dow and sophomore
Sydney Brown each tallied three hits, and
Chantelle Shimabukuro went 2-for-9 extending her on-base streak to 32 consecutive games.
Senior
Kira Doan recorded the win in the second game in a complete-game effort, notching her 10th victory of the season allowing six hits and two runs to improve to 10-7. With four strikeouts, Doan moved into a tie for 10th in WWU history with 234 career strikeouts.
Brown (8-4) was saddled with the loss in the opening game pitching 10 innings in the Vikings first extra-inning game of the season.
WOU catcher Natalie Willoughby hit the two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning in the first game, driving a ball over the right-center field fence with a placed runner on second base due to the international tie breaker rule that went into place in the 10th inning. Zoe Recolan finished 4-for-8 in the doubleheader to pace the Wolves (20-24, 5-13 GNAC) at the plate.
UP NEXT FOR THE VIKINGS
The Vikings (26-19, 12-6 GNAC) conclude their four-game series at Western Oregon on Sunday with a doubleheader beginning at noon. A live webcast and statistical updates will be provided Sunday's at WOU with links at
wwuvikings.com/Live. WWU completes the regular season next weekend (April 30-May 1) hosting Saint Martin's University at Viking Field.
GNAC STANDINGS
Here is an updated look at the GNAC standings following play on Saturday with the Vikings remaining in third place in the conference standings behind Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene:
| GNAC SOFTBALL |
CONF |
PCT |
OVERALL |
PCT |
HOME |
AWAY |
NEUTRAL |
STREAK |
| 1. |
Saint Martin's |
15-5 |
.750 |
27-16 |
.628 |
15-5 |
5-4 |
7-7 |
Lost 2 |
| |
Northwest Nazarene |
15-5 |
.750 |
27-17 |
.614 |
9-2 |
13-7 |
5-8 |
Won 2 |
| 3. |
Western Washington |
12-6 |
.667 |
26-19 |
.578 |
8-4 |
13-6 |
5-9 |
Won 1 |
| 4. |
Central Washington |
9-11 |
.450 |
18-22 |
.450 |
9-8 |
5-8 |
4-6 |
Lost 2 |
| 5. |
Simon Fraser |
7-11 |
.389 |
16-18 |
.471 |
6-4 |
3-10 |
7-4 |
Lost 1 |
| 6. |
Western Oregon |
5-13 |
.278 |
20-24 |
.455 |
11-5 |
3-13 |
6-6 |
Lost 1 |
| 7. |
Montana State Billings |
5-17 |
.227 |
12-33 |
.267 |
0-8 |
6-9 |
6-16 |
Won 1 |
FOLLOW THE VIKINGS
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!
ABOUT WWU SOFTBALL
The WWU softball program enters its 30th season in 2022. WWU advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the fifth time in program history in 2021 after winning the GNAC Tournament. WWU has posted a winning record 18 times during the 30-year history of the program, which won the 1998 NAIA National Championship in only its sixth season to record the school's first ever team national title. During the eight-season span from 2014-2021, the Vikings combined to go 195-148 and won a pair of GNAC Tournament titles (2017 & 2019).
