MONMOUTH, Ore. – For the second straight day the Western Washington University softball team bounced back to take the second game of the doubleheader to give them a weekend series split in a four-game road series over Western Oregon University in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

 

WWU dropped the opening game 2-0, but battled back for a 4-1 victory in 9 innings in the nightcap behind a three-run 9th inning. After not playing an extra-inning game in the first 43 games of the season, the Vikings played extra frames for the second consecutive day after going 11 innings in a 5-4 loss in Saturday's first game.

 

Western Oregon is now 21-24 on the year with a 6-13 record in conference play, 6th in the GNAC.

 

The Vikings head into the final week of the regular season in third place in the GNAC with a 13-7 conference record and a 27-20 overall mark. After opening the season with a 5-11 record, WWU has had a surge going 22-9 since the start of March. WWU has clinched one of the four spots in the GNAC Softball Championships that will be held May 5-7 in Lacey, Washington.

WWU got a pair of strong pitching performances in the doubleheader with sophomore Sydney Brown and senior Kira Doan both going the distance in their starts. The duo combined to allow only nine hits and three runs in 15.0 innings, with 15 strikeouts. Doan equaled her single-game career-high in strikeouts with eight while improving to 11-7 on the season and moved into 9th place in program history with 242 career strikeouts.

 

Senior Chantelle Shimabukuro had her 32-game on-base streak snapped in the opening game, but provided a key two-run single in the three-run 9th inning. Freshman Kanilehua Pitoy was credited with the game-winning RBI in the nightcap doubling home Kinzey Williams.

The Vikings (27-20, 13-7 GNAC) conclude the regular season with a four-game home series next weekend against first-place Saint Martin's, with games played Saturday (April 30) and Sunday (May 1) at Viking Field in Bellingham. Senior Day for WWU's seven seniors will be held on Sunday. A live webcast and statistical updates will be provided for all games in the four-game home series with links at wwuvikings.com/Live.

 

 

Western Washington lost 2-0 to Western Oregon in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader.

 

The game was a pure pitcher's duel, with both teams combining for two runs on seven hits.

 

WOU starter Maddie Mayer came out of the duel on top, earning a three-hit complete-game shutout win (8-9) while also not issuing a walk and striking out six Viking batters.

 

WWU starter Sydney Brown took a tough loss (8-5), tossing 6.0 innings of two-run ball and allowing just four hits while striking out seven.

 

WOU sophomore Natalie Willoughby, who hit a walk-off two-run home run in the 11th in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, once again led the Wolves at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

 

The Vikings three hits came from Kanilehua Pitoy, Macy Tarbox and Lauren Lo, with Lo's hit being her 11th double of the season.

 

On the defensive end, senior catcher Rachel Christensen caught two runners attempting to steal.

 

The Wolves got runners on second and third with nobody out in the 3rd inning and cashed in with a couple of runs to take a 2-0 lead that they would not relinquish as they won the first game of the doubleheader in shutout fashion.

 

 

 

In the same fashion as Saturday, WWU battled back in the nightcap to earn the doubleheader split. The Vikings defeated the Wolves 4-1 in a nine-inning battle to leave Monmouth with a 2-2 split.

 

The Vikings were led by a marathon pitching effort from senior starter Kira Doan, who went the full nine innings, allowing just one run on five hits and tying her single-game career-high with eight strikeouts. Doan is now 11-7 on the season and leads the Vikings pitching staff with 12 complete games.

 

Western Oregon starter Reilly Tidwell logged a complete game effort as well, throwing 168 pitches through 9.0 innings, scattering four runs and seven hits while striking out seven in the loss (3-6).

 

It was a complete team effort at the plate for the Vikings, as their seven hits came from six different batters. Junior transfer Kinzey Williams had a pair of singles and scored the game-winning run in her second multi-hit game of the season. Senior Chantelle Shimabukuro played a pair with a two-run single in the 9th inning and freshman Kanilehua Pitoy tallied a double and an RBI of her own.

 

Senior Lauren Lo scored on an error in the top of the 4th inning to give the Vikings their first run and first lead of the day at 1-0.

 

The Wolves would tie it back up in the bottom of the 4th on a Kate Ronning RBI single.

 

The Vikings would take back the lead in extra innings with three runs in the top of the 9th inning. Williams recorded a one-out infield single, moved into scoring position on a walk to Tatum Dow and scored on a double to left field by Pitoy. Shimabukuro added a pair of insurance runs with a two-out single to left field to stake WWU to the 4-1 lead. 

 

Doan pitched a clean bottom of the 9th to lock up the Vikings first extra-innings victory of the season and secure a spot in this year's GNAC championships.

 

 

Here is an updated look at the GNAC standings following play on Sunday with the Vikings remaining in third place in the conference standings behind Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene:

 

 

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 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).