BELLINGHAM, Wash. – It is only fitting that the first series in Viking Field history featuring two ranked teams ended in a split.

No. 15 Western Washington and No. 18 Northwest Nazarene each won two games in the four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference series, with WWU winning 3-2 in Saturday's first game and NNU splitting the doubleheader with a 2-0 win in the nightcap.

The Vikings ended the opening weekend of their conference season with a 17-4 overall record and 2-2 GNAC record. Western completes its non-conference schedule next week with five games at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock, California.

The evenly-contested series featured a plethora of great pitching with teams combining for just 11 runs. Junior Joie Baker went 2-0 on the series allowing three runs in 12.0 innings and freshman relief pitcher Kaiana Kong logged 5.0 scoreless relief innings facing the minimum 15 batters faced.

In the 3-2 first-game victory, the Viking received home runs from senior first baseman Ashley Jacobson (No. 5 on the season) and the game-winning solo homer from junior catcher Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez (No. 8 on the season). In 21 games the Vikings have hit 20 home runs after hitting 10 in 49 games last season.

The Vikings used the longball in game one to defeat NNU 3-2, with a two-run home run by Ashley Jacobson in the 1st inning and a solo homer by Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez in the 4th inning proving to be the difference.

Junior Joie Baker (4.0 IP, 2 R, BB, 4 K) and freshman Kaiana Kong (3.0 IP, K) combined to defeat NNU in the circle. Baker improved to 6-1 on the season and 2-0 on the weekend and Kong retired all nine batters she faced to pick up her third save of the season.

Jacobson hit a one-out home run over the center field fence for her fifth homer of the season to highlight the Vikings 1st inning.

NNU plated a pair of runs in the top of the 2nd inning to tie the game, but Baker stranded a pair of runners in scoring position to keep the game tied.

Andrewjeski led off the bottom of the 4th inning with solo home run to center field on a 3-2 pitch to give the Vikings the lead. 

Kong did not allow a baserunner over the final three innings to close out the Vikings eighth one-run victory of the season.

Freshman third baseman Maleah Andrews recorded her fifth multi-hit game of the season going 2-for-3 and had five assists at the hot corner. 

For the second consecutive day, NNU starting pitcher Gina Skinner fired a complete-game shutout to help the Nighthawks earn a split, winning Saturday's second game 2-0.

The Nighthawks scored single runs in the 4th and 5th innings, while WWU was not able to push a run across suffering its second shutout of the season.

WWU freshman starting pitcher Alli Kimball was solid once again, but did not receive any run support while allowing two runs and four hits in 5.0 innings. Kimball was dealt the tough-luck loss to fall to 5-2 on the season. Freshman Kaiana Kong kept the Vikings close facing the minimum over 2.0 scoreless relief innings.

Skinner improved to 4-1 on the season allowing five hits in 7.0 shutout innings.

Western shortstop Hailey Rath went 1-for-3 to extend her hitting streak to nine consecutive games.

The Vikings (17-4, 2-2 GNAC) are back on the road next week closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule with five games at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock, California. The three-day tournament is hosted by Stanislaus State University with more tournament information available at WarriorAthletics.com. 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: