LONGWOOD, Fla. – The Western Washington University softball team gutted out a 2-1 victory in 12 innings over the University of Indianapolis to stave off elimination in a national semifinal game at the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament at Soldiers Creek Park.

 

WWU and UIndy will meet again Wednesday evening in Florida with the winner advancing to the best-of-three championship final series.

 

Western's freshman pitching duo of Alli Kimball (7.1 IP) and Kaiana Kong (4.2 IP) went pitch-for-pitch against the nation's top pitcher in UIndy right-hander Kenzee Smith, who during the middle of the game, headlined the NFCA All-America awards as a first-team selection when it was announced.

 

Kimball and Kong did not allow the Greyhounds a hit with runners in scoring position, combining to hold UIndy to 0-for-11 and Western's pitching and defense stranded 14 runners on base.

 

The Vikings jumped out to an early lead over UIndy with a run in the top of the 1st inning when Hailey Rath scored on a two-out grounder by Ashley Jacobson that was misfielded by the third baseman.

 

UIndy equalized in the bottom of the 3rd inning with a two-out run on a throwing error by Jacobson.

 

From there it was a lot of zeros on the scoreboard with neither team scoring over the next eight innings.

 

UIndy had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 8th inning, but Kong wiggled out of the jam in relief of Kimball getting a strikeout and groundout to end the threat. The Greyhounds also loaded the bases in the 9th inning to no avail with Kong ending the inning on a strikeout.

 

The Vikings pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th inning on a two-out single up the middle by center fielder Taylor Khorrami. Catcher Emma Andrewjeski-Ramirez recorded a leadoff single through the right side of the infield and designated player Amaya Davis singled through the left side. Khorrami lined a 2-1 pitch from Smith up the middle to score pinch runner Isabella Bay from second base.

 

UIndy had another scoring chance in the bottom of the 12th inning loading the bases on a pair of walks and a single, but Kong got Shelby Cook to fly out to deep center field to end the game sending the Vikings to victory.

 

Kong earned the win to improve to 16-1 on the season with 4.2 scoreless innings. Kimball continued her tremendous run in the national tournament allowing one unearned run in 7.1 innings while striking out a single-game career-high seven batters.

 

Smith, a front-runner for National Pitcher of the Year, dropped just her fourth game of the season with her pitching record now at 39-4 and ERA at 0.35.

 

The Vikings improved to 51-10 on the season while UIndy moved to 60-6.
 

 

The Vikings (51-10) play UIndy again later Wednesday (4 pm ET/1 pm PT scheduled first pitch) with the winner advancing to the best-of-three championship series to play for the national title. UIndy entered today's game with a 2-0 record and WWU was 2-1, with the extra-inning Vikings win setting up the winner-take-all contest. 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 – #6 Western Washington 2, #4 UIndy 1 (12 innings)

Game 12 – #2 UT Tyler vs. #8 Lenoir-Rhyne, 3:15 pm ET/12:15 pm PT

Game 13 – 4 UIndy vs. #6 Western Washington, 5 pm ET/2 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 9-3 during the current playoff run and are 10-13 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

Defeated UIndy, 2-1 (9 inn.) (NCAA Championship Finals) – Longwood, FL

 

WWU has set the program record for wins in a season with 51, 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 51 wins: