LONGWOOD, Fla. – The Western Washington University softball team lives to see another day at the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament.

 

The No. 6 seed Vikings recorded their 50th victory of the season in impressive fashion defeating No. 1 seed Auburn University of Montgomery 7-1 in an elimination game at Soldiers Creek Park as part of the NCAA Spring Championships Festival. 

 

WWU moves on as one of the final four teams in the DII Softball World Series, facing No. 4 seed and No. 2 nationally ranked University of Indianapolis Wednesday at 11 am ET/8 am PT. The Vikings will need to defeat UIndy twice Wednesday to move on to the best-of-three series starting Friday to determine the 2024 national champion.

 

A day after suffering its worst loss of the season with a 10-1 defeat against No. 2 seed UT Tyler, the Vikings bounced back with one of its best wins of the historic 2024 season. AUM was playing its second game of the day after defeating Charleston (WV) 17-4 in a run-rule-shortened game.

 

Trailing 1-0 through the first two innings, WWU went ahead with one big swing of the bat from freshman third baseman Maleah Andrews in the top of the 3rd inning. After going 6-up, 6-down in the first two innings, junior right fielder McKenna Crum lined a two-out single to center field. Andrews lifted a home run over the right-center field fence to put the Vikings up with her eighth home run of the season. 

 

Freshman starting pitcher Alli Kimball settled in after allowing an unearned run in the bottom of the 2nd inning and the Vikings put five runs on the board in the top of the 5th inning to grow the lead to 7-1.

 

WWU loaded the bases with two outs in the 5th inning on singles by Taylor Khorrami and Andrews, and a walk to Kanilehua Pitoy. Sophomore shortstop Hailey Rath cleared the bases with a double to left field and junior catcher Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez added to the lead with a tape-measure two-run home run to center field for her 18th longball of the season.

 

Kimball exited the game with one out in the bottom of the 7th inning with the bases loaded after three consecutive Warhawk singles, but freshman closer Kaiana Kong got a pair of groundouts to end the game and advance the Vikings to play another day.

 

Kimball earned the win to improve to 23-2 on the season, allowing one unearned run in 6.1 innings, scattering nine hits in her outing. Kong, the national leader with 11 saves, retired both batters she faced with the bases loaded to seal the win in a non-save situation.

 

Rath went 2-for-4 with three RBI, Andrews was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and two RBI and Andrewjeski-Ramirez hit extended her WWU single-season record with her 18th home run. Crum also finished with a multi-hit game going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

 

AUM ace Alanna Goble was saddled with the loss allowing seven hits and seven runs in 4.2 innings. Leadoff hitter Chloe Baynes went 4-for-4 to lead the Warhawks nine-hit attack.

 

 

The Vikings (50-10) advance to play UIndy (60-5) Wednesday at 11 am ET/8 am PT at Soldiers Creek Park, with only four teams remaining in the DII Softball World Series. UIndy is undefeated so far in the tournament, so the Vikings will need a pair of wins Wednesday to advance to the championship best-of-three series starting Friday in Longwood, Florida. All games in the Softball Championships feature a free webcast live on NCAA.com.
 

 

The NCAA II Softball National Championship format consists of two four-team brackets that will play a double-elimination tournament May 19-22. The winner of each four-team bracket will square off in a best-of-three championship final round held May 24-25. All games during the DII Softball National Championship will be played at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood, Florida. Here is a detailed look at the game schedule (and results) for the NCAA DII Softball National Championship:

 

Sunday, May 19:

Game 1 – #8 Lenoir-Rhyne 1, #1 Auburn Montgomery 0 (9 inn.)

Game 2 – #4 UIndy 9, vs. #5 Charleston 0 (5 inn.)

Game 3 – #2 UT Tyler 2, #7 Augustana 1 (8 inn.)

Game 4 –#6 Western Washington 2, #3 Wilmington 1

 

Monday, May 20:

Game 5 – #4 UIndy 1, #8 Lenoir-Rhyne 0

Game 6 – #2 UT Tyler 10, #6 Western Washington 1

 

Tuesday, May 21:

Game 7 – #1 Auburn Montgomery 17, #5 Charleston 4 Charleston eliminated

Game 8 – #3 Wilmington 5, #7 Augustana 2  Augustana eliminated

Game 9 – #6 Western Washington 7, #1 Auburn Montgomery 1 AUM eliminated

Game 10 – #8 Lenoir-Rhyne 6, #3 Wilmington 4 (9 inn.) Wilmington eliminated

 

Wednesday, May 22:

Game 11 – #4 UIndy vs. #6 Western Washington, 11 am ET/8 am PT

Game 12 – #2 UT Tyler vs. #8 Lenoir-Rhyne, 1:30 pm ET/10:30 am PT

Game 13 – First bracket if necessary, 4 pm ET/1 pm PT

Game 14 – Second bracket if necessary, 6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT

Winner of each 4-team bracket advances to National Championship best-of-three series

 

Thursday, May 23:

Off Day / Practice for final two teams

 

Friday, May 24:

Championship Game 1 - 12 pm ET/9 am PT

 

Saturday, May 25:

Championship Game 2 - 12 pm ET/9 am PT

Championship Game 3 - 2:30 pm ET/11:30 am ET - if necessary

Winner of each best-of-three series wins national title

 

All games during the 2024 NCAA Division II Softball National Championship will be streamed live and FREE online by visiting NCAA.com/liveschedule. Once visiting that link fans will be able to choose from all NCAA events that will stream that day…just find the Viking logo and click to watch the game live online. A direct link will also be available by bookmarking wwuvikings.com/SB_Watch.
 

 

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

 

 

Here are links on how to follow the 2024 NCAA Division II Softball Championships with the original 64-team field now down to the final eight teams at the DII College World Series in Longwood, Florida:

 

• NCAA Spring Sports Festival
• Championships Festival Schedule
• Live Webcast on NCAA.com (FREE)
• NCAA Tournament Scoreboard
• NCAA Bracket
• Digital Gameday Program
• NCAA Softball
• WWU Softball Statistics
• Super Regional Website

 

WWU is making its sixth all-time appearance in the NCAA Division II Softball Championships and the first in the NCAA II World Series (final 8 teams). Entering the 2024 postseason with one NCAA Tournament victory, the Vikings are 8-3 during the current playoff run and are 9-13 all-time 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. Here is a look at the Vikings game-by-game listing in the NCAA Championships with the regional host site listed next to the year:

 

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

Defeated Cal State San Marcos, 7-1

Defeated Cal State San Marcos, 2-1

Defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills, 4-3 (Super Regional)

Lost to Cal State Dominguez Hills, 3-2 (Super Regional)

Defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills, 7-6 (West Region Champions) – 8 innings

Defeated Wilmington (DE), 2-1 (NCAA Championship Finals) – Longwood, FL

Lost to UT Tyler, 10-1 (NCAA Championship Finals) – Longwood, FL

Defeated Auburn Montgomery, 7-1 (NCAA Championship Finals) – Longwood, FL

 

WWU has set the program record for wins in a season with 50, passing the 36 wins achieved by the 2011 squad (36-16/.692). This is the 10th season with 30-or-more wins in program history. Western also ranks 4th in GNAC history with the 50 wins: