BILLINGS, Mont. – The No. 11 nationally-ranked Western Washington University softball team swept its third consecutive GNAC series with a pair of wins Saturday over Montana State Billings, winning 11-8 and 9-5 at Avitus Group Stadium.

 

The Vikings extended its school-record winning streak to 17 consecutive games with the four-game sweep of the Yellowjackets, improving to 34-4 overall and remaining in first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference at 14-2.

 

WWU held off one of the top home run hitting teams in the nation in the cozy confines of their home stadium to out-score MSUB 20-13 on Saturday and 37-22 in the series. 

 

In Saturday's doubleheader sweep sophomore shortstop Hailey Rath combined to go 5-for-7 with four runs, two doubles, two home runs and five RBI. Junior left fielder Lexi Barcomb was 4-for-7 with three runs scored, Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez went 4-for-8 with a home run and three RBI and Ashley Jacobson hit a pair of home runs and drove in five runs. Overall, the Vikings hit .438 in the two games with five doubles and six home runs.

 

WWU's 34 wins are tied for 2nd-most in a season in the 32 years of program history, quickly approaching the 36 victories from the 2011 season. The Vikings have built the 34-win season by going a perfect 13-0 in true road games and 24-1 in games away from Bellingham. 

 

The Vikings close out the home portion of the regular-season schedule next weekend hosting Central Washington University on Friday and Saturday with doubleheaders scheduled each day to start at noon.

 

The Vikings and Yellowjackets combined to hit 10 home runs in the slugfest, with WWU extending its school-record winning streak to 16 consecutive games with an 11-8 victory.

 

WWU tied its single-game record with five home runs, with senior first baseman Ashley Jacobson and sophomore shortstop Hailey Rath each hitting a pair of homers.

 

This marked the fourth time WWU has homered five times in a game, and first since the 2016 season, with three of the instances happening at the cozy confines of Avitus Group Stadium in Billings.

 

WWU scored three runs in the top of the 1st inning with the first homers each by Rath (2-run HR) and Jacobson.

 

MSUB chased WWU starter Joie Baker from the game hitting three home runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning to take a 4-3 lead. 

 

But the Vikings answered in the 3rd inning to take the lead for good on a three-run homer by Jacobson and followed with two-run homers by Rath and freshman third baseman Maleah Andrews in the top of the 4th inning to extend the lead to 10-4.

 

The Yellowjackets cut the deficit to two runs at 10-8 with four runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, with home runs by Lauren Blaschak and Teagan Seeton, and a suicide squeeze bunt by Alexis Tovar.

 

Freshman pitcher Kaiana Kong recorded the win to improve to 11-1 on the season, scattering six hits and four runs in 6.0 innings. Kong did not allow a run over the final three innings to secure the Vikings 33rd victory of the season.

 

Left fielder Lexi Barcomb went 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored to extend her hitting streak to seven consecutive games and Rath went 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBI. WWU scored in double-digits for the third time in the last four games.

 

 

 

The Vikings completed the series and Saturday doubleheader sweep with a 9-5 come-from-behind victory in the nightcap, fueled by a 4-for-4 game from designated player Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez.

 

The Vikings got off to a quick start scoring a pair of two-out runs in the top of the 1st inning. Andrews drew a leadoff walk and came in to score on a single through the left side of the infielder by Andrewjeski-Ramirez. First baseman Ashley Jacobson wasted little time extending her hitting streak to 13 consecutive games with a double down the left field line to plate Andrewjeski-Ramirez from first base.

 

Sophomore Alexis Slater made her season debut in the circle as the Vikings starter and allowed only one run through her first four innings, before being touched for four runs in the bottom of the 5th inning.

 

WWU had built a 4-1 lead, but the Yellowjackets big 5th-inning put the Vikings in a one-run hole trailing 5-4.

 

Senior center fielder Taylor Khorrami started the rally in the 4th inning with a single up the middle to score Kanilehua Pitoy and red-hot hitting left fielder Lexi Barcomb drilled a two-out double to center field to put the Vikings up 7-5 and Hailey Rath followed with an RBI single to right field to extend the lead to 8-5. Khorrami added an insurance run in the top of the 7th inning with another runs-scoring single up the middle.

 

Freshman Alli Kimball made her third relief appearance of the season and was nearly perfect allowing just one hit in 2.1 innings to record the win to improve to 12-2 on the season.

 

Andrewjeski-Ramirez finished 4-for-4 with her 12th home run of the season and Khorrami continued her recent tear at the plate going 3-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. Rath went 2-for-3 with her 11th double of the season.

 

MSUB third baseman Marin Penney went 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs. Starting pitcher Shelby Wasilewski (2-11) suffered the loss allowing 12 hits and eight runs in 5.2 innings.

 

 

The Vikings (34-4, 14-2 GNAC) returns home next week for the final games during the regular season at Viking Field hosting in-state rival Central Washington April 19-20 (Friday-Saturday) in GNAC doubleheaders scheduled to start at noon. It will be Senior Weekend for the Vikings with Taylor Khorrami, Emily Paulson, Hanako Hirai and Ashley Jacobson playing their final regular-season games in Bellingham. The complete 2024 WWU Softball schedule can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com.

 

WWU remained perfect in true road games this season, improving to 13-0 with the two wins Saturday in Billings. Overall, the Vikings have built their amazing 34-4 record with a 24-1 record in games away from Bellingham.

 

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

 

 

Here is an up-to-date look at the GNAC Softball standings through Saturday's games with the Vikings remaining in first place in the standings with a 14-2 record. The top four teams in the conference standings at the conclusion of the regular season will qualify for the GNAC Championships May 2-4 in Bellingham at Vikings Field. All updated stats, standings and schedule from the conference are available online at GNACSports.com.

 

 

For just the 10th time in program history – and the fastest in just 34 games – the Vikings have reached the 30-win mark in a season. WWU is 34-4 on the season (.895), marking the first 30-win season for the program since going 34-19 in 2017, and tied for the 2nd-most wins in a single season in program history. The single-season school record for wins is 36 set by the 2011 squad (36-16/.692).

 

 

The Vikings have a current 17-game winning streak to mark the team's second double-digit winning streak this season. Western opened the season with a school-record 13 consecutive wins for the best undefeated start in program and GNAC history and have broken the school record with the current 16-game winning streak.

 

Four players have active hitting streaks of at least eight games, led by a current 13-game hitting streak by senior first baseman Ashley Jacobson. Here is a look at the active hitting streaks and the player stats during the streaks:

 

 

The current 17-game winning streak is established as the program record, bettering a pair of 13-game winning streaks. The 13-0 start to the season entered the record books as the best undefeated start in the 32-year history of the program, and the best winning streak by a GNAC program to start a season. WWU passed the 12-0 perfect start by the 2011 team that finished 36-16 to earn a spot in the NCAA II West Regional Championships. 

 

 

With the four-game sweep the Vikings have won 12 consecutive games against MSUB and 19 of the last 20 meetings dating back to 2019. WWU leads the series 48-43 over the Yellowjackets.

 

Junior catcher Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez is second in the GNAC with 12 home runs, already the second-most homers in a single season by a Viking in 32 years of program history. Only program all-time home run leader Emily Benson has hit more homers in a single season than Andrewjeski-Ramirez 12 home runs, recording 14 homers in 2019 for the single-season record. Here is a look at the WWU single-season HR leaders, with the Vikings 34 homers this season tied for 5th-most in program history:

 

 

When hitting a home run the Vikings are perfect at 22-0 this season.