ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Western Washington University softball team had its 2022 season come to a close with a 4-0 loss to Northwest Nazarene University Friday in an elimination game of the GNAC Championships at Frederick Field.
The Vikings allowed all four runs in the first two innings of the game and couldn't overcome a three-hit shutout by GNAC Pitcher of the Year Sydney Booth to end the season with a 29-24 record. WWU was the No. 3 seed in the four-team championships, but dropped a 6-5 game to Saint Martin's in extra innings Thursday and were eliminated with today's shutout loss.
The regular-season GNAC champion Nighthawks got off to a quick start scoring three runs on four singles in the bottom of the 1st inning, with all runs coming against WWU sophomore starter
Sydney Brown. NNU added another run in the 2nd inning on the second sacrifice fly in as many innings by Booth.
WWU senior
Kira Doan was solid in 5.1 innings of relief work, allowing just one run on four hits, striking out six and walking a pair. Doan retired the final eight Nighthawks she faced to complete her career with a 2.98 ERA and 262 strikeouts in 84 pitching appearances. Brown (8-7) suffered the loss allowing four hits and three runs while not making it out of the 1st inning.
Booth recorded the complete-game shutout on just 77 pitches, including 20 of 26 first-pitch strikes to WWU hitters. In seven innings, Booth gave up three singles, walked one and struck out three, improving her record to 16-11 on the season.
NNU leadoff hitter Emma Mulligan went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored as the only Nighthawk to record a multi-hit game.
WWU senior second baseman
Chantelle Shimabukuro recorded two of WWU's three hits (2-for-3) for her 17th multi-hit game of the season. Shimabukuro finished the season batting .401 (64-for-157) to become just the 11th player in the 30-year history of the program to hit .400 or better in a season.
Northwest Nazarene (31-19) survives in the elimination bracket and will face Central Washington later this evening. The winner of that game will face Saint Martin's on Saturday in the championship round, with the Saints needing one victory to win the conference tournament title. The remainder of the GNAC Tournament will be streamed lived online at
GNAC.tv.
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NNU 4, WWU 0 (May 6, 2022 at Ellensburg, WA) – GNAC Tournament
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Score by Innings
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1
|
2
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3
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4
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5
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6
|
7
|
|
R
|
H
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E
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LOB
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Record
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Western Washington
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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-
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0
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3
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1
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5
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29-24
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Northwest Nazarene
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3
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1
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0
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0
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0
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0
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x
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-
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4
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8
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1
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7
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31-19
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WWU – Brown, Doan (1) and Christensen
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NNU – Booth and Adams
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Win: Booth (16-11) Save: None Loss: Brown (8-7)
WWU HR: None NNU HR: None
Time of Game: 2:02 Att: 175
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GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS BRACKET
The four-team, double-elimination tournament moved from Lacey to Ellensburg due to heavy rain in the forecast. Here is a look at the tournament schedule with all games streamed live online at
GNAC.tv.
Thursday, May 5:
Game 1: No. 2 Saint Martin's 6, No. 3 Western Washington 5 (9 inn.)
Game 2: No. 4 Central Washington 4, No. 1 Northwest Nazarene 1
Friday, May 6:
Game 3: Northwest Nazarene 4, Western Washington 0 (WWU eliminated)
Game 4: Saint Martin's 10, Central Washington 0
Game 5: Northwest Nazarene 2, Central Washington 1 (CWU eliminated)
Saturday, May 7:
Game 6: Saint Martin's vs. Northwest Nazarene, Noon
Game 7: Saint Martin's vs. Northwest Nazarene (if necessary), 2:30 pm
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 concluded 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 19 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 nine-season span from 2014-2022, the Vikings have combined to go 224-172 and won a pair of GNAC Tournament titles (2017 & 2021).
