LACEY, Wash. – In the opening game of the 2016 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Softball Championship, No. 2-seed Western Oregon captured a 3-1 victory over No. 3-seed Concordia on Thursday afternoon in Lacey, Wash.
 
With the victory, WOU improves to 30-22 on the year and advances to the winner's game on Friday morning at 10 a.m. against the winner of the Central Washington/Saint Martin's game. Concordia drops to 32-22 and will play in the championship's first elimination game on Friday at 12:30 p.m.
 
Both teams got a base runner in the first inning, but it wasn't until the bottom of the second that the Wolves tabbed the first run thanks to a defensive miscue. After a one-out double from Ashlee Lynch, a ground ball hit by Lexi Jennings was misplayed at shortstop, allowing Lynch to score for a 1-0 lead.
 
Mercedes Green hit her sixth home run of the season with one out in the fourth inning and Kelsie Gardner hit an infield RBI single to put the Wolves ahead, 3-0.
 
In moving to 12-7 on the season, Boytz held the Cavaliers offense to four hits - only the third time this year they have been held to under five hits in a single game. In a 105-pitch complete game effort, Boytz battled through three walks and one hit batter with four strikeouts. Early in the game, she retired 10 batters consecutively and eliminated a big CU threat in the fifth after getting a groundball out with the bases loaded.
 
Western Oregon outhit the Cavaliers seven to four. Gardner was the only WOU player with multiple hits going 2-for-3. The Wolves had a hit in every innings except the sixth, swatting three of their overall total in the fifth inning.