BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University softball team lives to see another day, advancing to Championship Saturday of the NCAA West Regional Tournament that is being hosted at Viking Field.

 

The No. 1 seed Vikings dropped the opening game of the day when a 7th-inning rally fell short in a 4-3 winner's bracket game vs. No. 4 Cal State San Marcos. WWU rebounded with a 3-0 shutout victory over No. 8 Azusa Pacific in a late afternoon game to advance to the championship round. WWU will need a pair of wins Saturday over San Marcos to advance to the next round of the NCAA Championships at a Super Regional. First pitch is scheduled for noon Saturday at Viking Field with ticket and parking info available online at wwuvikings.com/SB_Regional.

 

Trailing 4-1 entering the bottom half of the 7th inning in the opener, WWU rallied with a run-scoring single by Riley Anderson and an RBI double by Amaya Davis – both as pinch-hitters – to pull the Vikings to within one run. Maleah Andrews pushed a ball up the middle, but the CSUSM second baseman made a solid play to close out the game for the one-run victory.

 

In the nightcap vs. APU, the Vikings jumped ahead early plating a run in the 1st inning on a double by Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez. WWU extended the lead to 2-0 on a sacrifice fly by Kanilehua Pitoy in the bottom of the 4th inning.

 

APU looked to equalize in the top of the 5th inning when shortstop Mia Alvarez drilled a ball to deep center field with a runner on base, but WWU center fielder Taylor Khorrami robbed a 2-run home run with a highlight-reel catch.

 

The next half inning the Vikings added an insurance run on a tape-measure home run by Andrewjeski-Ramirez for her 16th longball of the season to extend her single-season school record. 

 

Freshman Alli Kimball logged 5.0 scoreless innings to improve to 19-2 on the season, extending her scoreless inning streak to 25.0 consecutive innings. Freshman Kaiana Kong recorded her eight save of the season with 2.0 perfect innings to close out the Vikings 44th victory of the season. 

 

Andrewjeski-Ramirez went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI and Khorrami was 2-for-3.

 

The Vikings (44-8) will take on No. 4 seed Cal State San Marcos in the championship round, needing to record a pair of victories to advance to the Super Regionals. Cal State San Marcos is 2-0 in regional play, while the Vikings are 2-1 in the double-elimination four-team tournament. First pitch Saturday is scheduled for noon at Viking Field. The complete 2024 WWU Softball schedule can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com.

 

Here are links on how to follow the 64-team field in the 2024 NCAA Division II Softball Championships:

 

• Tournament Website (Bellingham Pod)
• NCAA Tournament Scoreboard
• Free Webcast via Vikings TV on YouTube
• Live Statistics
• NCAA Bracket
• Ticket Information
• Digital Gameday Program
• NCAA Softball

 

WWU is the host of one of the two sub-regional tournaments in Bellingham at Viking Field, just a week after hosting the GNAC Championships. This marks the first time WWU has hosted an NCAA Softball Championships event. Here is a look at the Bellingham bracket with game times listed. The other side of the West Region bracket will be played in Nampa, Idaho on the campus of Northwest Nazarene University. The winner of each sub-regional advances to the West Super Regional played May 14-15 (best of 3), with the winner advancing to the NCAA II Championship Finals May 19-25 in Longwood, Florida.

 

 

Thursday, May 9:

Game 1 – No. 1 Western Washington 1, No. 8 Azusa Pacific 0

Game 2 – No. 4 Cal State San Marcos 9, No. 5 Cal State East Bay 1 (5 inn.)

Friday, May 10:

Game 3 – No. 4 Cal State San Marcos 4, No. 1 Western Washington 3

Game 4 – No. 8 Azusa Pacific 5, No. 5 Cal State East Bay 0 (CSUEB eliminated)

Game 5 – No. 1 Western Washington, No. 8 Azusa Pacific 0 (APU eliminated)

Saturday, May 11:

Game 6 – No. 4 Cal State San Marcos vs. No. 1 Western Washington, 12:00 pm

Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 2:30 pm (if necessary)

 

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

 

 

WWU is making its sixth all-time appearance in the NCAA Division II Softball Championships and first since 2021. The Vikings are 3-11 all-time in the NCAA Championships, with Thursday's win over APU the second NCAA Tournament victory. Here is a look at the Vikings game-by-game listing in the NCAA Championships. Prior to moving to the NCAA level in 1999, WWU won the NAIA World Series for the first team title in WWU Athletics history:

 

2003 (Bakersfield, CA):

Lost to UC Davis, 4-2

Lost to Humboldt State, 7-1

 

2007 (Turlock, CA):

Lost to Stanislaus State, 2-0

Lost to Sonoma State, 3-1

 

2011 (Chico, CA):

Lost to Chico State, 3-1

Lost to Central Washington, 8-4

 

2017 (Seaside, CA):

Defeated Cal State Monterey Bay, 5-3

Lost to Dixie State, 5-0

Lost to Sonoma State, 6-4

 

2021 (Irvine, CA):

Lost to Hawai'i Hilo, 3-0

Lost to Central Washington, 9-5

 

2024 (Bellingham, WA):

Defeated Azusa Pacific, 1-0

Lost to Cal State San Marcos, 4-3

Defeated Azusa Pacific, 3-0

 

WWU has set the program record for wins in a season with 44 (and counting), passing the 36 wins achieved by the 2011 squad (36-16/.692). This is the 10th 30-victory season in program history.