Softball | 3/24/2009 2:52:14 PM

[Complete release]

This week...
The Western Oregon University softball team will host Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Northwest Nazarene in a four-game series Mar. 27-28 at the WOU Softball Field. The teams will open with a doubleheader Friday (Mar. 27) at 1:00 p.m., and conclude their series with another doubleheader Saturday (Mar. 28) at noon.

A look at the Western Oregon team…
The Western Oregon softball team has started 10-8 in the GNAC and on the season. Last week against Western Washington, the Wolves took the first two games of the series before dropping both games Sunday for the split.

As a team, Western Oregon lead the GNAC with a .325 batting average to go along with a .422 on-base percentage and a .495 slugging percentage. Meanwhile, the WOU pitchers are holding its opponents to a .254 batting average, a .346 OBP and a .397 slugging percentage. The Wolves have also collected 54 extra base hits on the season with 12 home runs while its opponents have 40 extra base hits.

WOU has also stolen 24 bases in its first 18 games and four student-athletes have three or more steals. This season, the Wolves are outscoring their opponents by two runs per game (5.83 to 3.83) and are 7-0 when leading after five innings.

The Wolves...
Leadoff batter Tyler Sutherland leads WOU's offensive attack. She is third in the conference with a .417 batting average and first with 12 doubles. She also ranks in the top 10 in the GNAC in steals (T-first, 7), on-base percentage (third, .514), slugging percentage (T-third, .700), walks (fourth, 11), runs (fourth, 22) total bases (fifth, 42) and hits (sixth, 25). Sutherland trails the conference leader by just four runs despite playing 16 fewer games. She is averaging 1.22 runs per game this season and 14 of her 25 hits have gone for extra bases.

Jessica Hallmark is the team-leader with five home runs and 16 RBI. She is tied for third in the conference with the five homers and is fifth in RBI. With the homer against WWU, the sophomore now has 13 home runs in her career, matching the Western Oregon record held by Trina Dorn. Earlier this season, Hallmark set the Western Oregon school-record and matched the GNAC-record with eight RBI in the Wolves' 14-8 win over NNU. Hallmark is also tied with Sutherland for third place in the conference with a .700 slugging percentage and is eighth with 35 total bases.

Freshman Kendra George is fourth in the GNAC with a .412 batting average and is tied for third with five stolen bases. She is also ranked fifth in the league in on-base percentage (.478) and seventh in slugging (.618).

Fellow freshman Rocky Knuth is seventh in the league with a .368 batting average and leads the GNAC with two triples. She is fourth in the league with a .510 on-base percentage and ninth with a .579 slugging percentage. She is also sporting a .538 average on balls in play.

Second baseman Amanda Fleer is ranked in the top 10 in the GNAC in five categories. She is sixth in doubles (5), sixth in on-base percentage (.478) seventh in runs (15), eighth in slugging (.611) and 10th in average (.352). She ranks second on the team with three home runs and is the only Wolf other than Hallmark with multiple homers.

Krysta Pennington's .435 on-base percentage ranks her eighth in the GNAC and she also 11th in the league with a .350 batting average. Pennington is second on WOU with 11 RBI.

Kylee Hancock is tied with Pennington for second on the club with 11 RBI. She registered eight RBI in the Saint Martin's series (Mar. 7-8), with at least one in each game.

On the mound, Stephanie Albrecht (3-3) leads the team with a 2.19 ERA. Opponents are hitting .261 off Albrecht, good for seventh in the GNAC, and with the shutout of Saint Martin's (Mar. 7) she became one of just seven pitchers in the conference to throw a shutout this season.

Jessica Wood (4-2) has a 3.67 ERA while holding opponents to a .212 batting average in 47.2 innings. She has pitched a complete game in all three of her starts this season and opponents have managed only 38 hits against Wood in 179 at-bats. She ranks in the top 10 in the GNAC in strikeouts (fifth, 42), batting average against (sixth) and innings pitched (eighth).

Jessie Lessard (3-3) leads the Wolves and is tied for third in the GNAC with two shutouts. She has a 4.32 ERA and a .286 batting average against, good for ninth in the league.

Northwest Nazarene preview...
The Northwest Nazarene Crusaders are 6-17 this season with a 4-11 record in the GNAC and a 2-9 mark on the road. Last week, it took two of three games at Saint Martin's to snap a 10-game losing streak. As a team, NNU is averaging 3.83 runs per game while yielding 7.65. Opponents are also hitting .366 compared to a .242 batting average for the Crusaders.

Haley Hevern leads NNU at the plate with a .338 average and six home runs while tying for the lead in RBI with 14. She also paces the Crusaders with a .408 on-base clip, a .676 slugging percentage and 46 total bases. Arielle Chao is second on the club with a .323 batting average and a .484 slugging percentage while leading NNU with three stolen bases.

Cara Duckworth is the Crusaders top performer on the mound with seven complete games, 38 strikeouts and 71.2 innings pitched. She has a 5.47 ERA and opponents are hitting .331 off of Duckworth.

Western Oregon extended its lead in the all-time series to 29-8 as it took three of four games at NNU earlier this season (Feb. 27-28).

Recap of last series...
Western Oregon split a four-game home stand with Western Washington as WOU took both games Friday before WWU responded with the doubleheader sweep on Saturday.

Game 1: Stephanie Albrecht started game one for WOU and pitched 5.1 shutout innings allowing just two hits before giving way to Jessica Wood who went the final 1.2 innings for her first save of the season. The Wolves gave Albrecht the lead early as they put up single runs in the first and third innings. Tyler Sutherland led of the bottom of the first inning with a single, then stole second base and scored on Tierra-Lyn Cuba's double to left center for the Wolves' first run of the day. WOU would push across the eventual game-winning run in the third, as Sutherland doubled home Miranda Little who had led off the inning with a single and advanced to second when the left fielder could not handle the ball cleanly. Sutherland and Cuba both went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the game to lead Western Oregon at the plate.

Game 2: Western Oregon jumped in front 10-1 after three innings in game two as it put up three runs in the first, four more in the second and another three in the third. The Wolves got all their runs in the first inning with two out. After Hallmark and Fleer kept the inning alive with singles, Jessie Lessard hit a ball into right field which the right fielder misplayed allowing both runners to score and Lessard to reach via the error. Rueck then doubled off the left field wall to score Lessard and cap off the inning. Lessard (3-2) earned the win as she went three innings and allowed just two runs. Wood came in to pitch the last two innings allowing one hit, one walk and no runs to seal the victory for WOU. Sutherland, Cuba and Hallmark each put up two RBI for WOU as Rueck and Knuth each added one.

Game 3: Western Oregon was held to just two hits in the game by Western Washington starter Sarah McEnroe as she when the distance and the Vikings earned a 10-0 win in game one. WWU scored its 10 runs on just five hits as it got two runs in the first and third innings before breaking the game open with six runs in the fourth. Krista Bickar delivered the big blow for the Vikings in the fourth with a grad slam.

Game 4: Western Washington scored run the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth and would add an insurance run in the seventh to win the game 4-2. Western Oregon jumped out the a 2-0 lead after three innings on RBI-singles by Amanda Fleer and Kendra George, but the Vikings would tie the game in the fourth on a two-out rally. The Vikings would score the game deciding run in the sixth on a wild pitch and would add one more in on a home run by Jordan Emmil. Jessie Lessard started the game for WOU and went 6.1 innings allowing seven hits and four runs (two earned). Jessica Rosencrants went the distance for the Vikings allowing 10 hits and three walks while striking out 13. The 13 strikeouts by Western Oregon hitters was the most this season and just the second time they have struck out more than 10 times in a game.