BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The sun was shining, playing conditions were perfect and two top-20 nationally-ranked teams battled it out Friday with No. 15 Western Washington hosting No. 18 Northwest Nazarene Friday at Viking Field in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

The hype lived up with the two teams splitting the doubleheader, with No. 15 WWU winning 2-1 on a walk-off home run in eight innings in the opener and No. 18 NNU taking the nightcap 1-0.

Western junior catcher Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez broke a 1-1 tie with a towering one-out home run in the bottom of the 8th inning for her seventh home run of the season to back a 2-hitter by junior starting pitcher Joie Baker. NNU starting pitcher Gina Skinner logged a complete-game three-hit shutout in the nightcap to even the series 1-1.

WWU's pitchers combined to allow just seven hits and two runs, but were matched by the Nighthawks in the circle with nine hits and two runs allowed.

The Vikings enter Saturday's doubleheader vs. NNU with a 16-3 overall record and 1-1 in GNAC play, while NNU is 17-3 overall and 5-1 in conference games.

Junior catcher Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez hit a one-out, tape-measure walk-off home run in the bottom of the 8th inning to send the Vikings to a 2-1 victory over NNU.

Ramirez took NNU ace and GNAC all-time strikeout leader Sidney Booth deep over the center field fence on an 0-2 pitch for her seventh home run of the season for the game-winner.

The walk-off home run made a winner out of junior Joie Baker, who out-dueled Booth to improve to 5-1 on the season by allowing just one run and two hits in the 8.0-inning complete game victory.

Sophomore shortstop Hailey Rath went 1-for-4 out of the leadoff spot to extend her hitting streak to six consecutive games and freshman third baseman Maleah Andrews went 1-for-3 with her second triple of the season.

The Nighthawks earned the doubleheader split with a 1-0 victory in the nightcap riding the complete-game shutout by starting pitcher Gina Skinner.

Skinner out-dueled Western freshman starting pitcher Alli Kimball allowing three hits in 7.0 scoreless innings. Kimball dropped to 5-1 on the season but had another great outing scattering five hits and allowed just one run in 7.0 innings while striking out six.

The lone run of the game came in the top of the 5th inning with shortstop Clarissa Moreno drove home Emma Mulligan with a two-out single to right field.

The Vikings had only one runner advance into scoring decision with Skinner limiting WWU's bats to just three singles in the game.

The Vikings (16-3, 1-1 GNAC) close out the four-game series vs. Northwest Nazarene Saturday with a doubleheader at Viking Field starting at noon. The complete 2024 WWU Softball schedule can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com.

Here is a look at the Vikings record breakdown for the 2024 season: