MONMOUTH, Ore.— The Western Oregon softball team heads to their seventh consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament this week, holding the No. 2 seed in the four-team event. The Wolves will face No. 3 Concordia on Thursday, May 2 at noon in the first round of the double-elimination tournament at Porter Park on the campus of Concordia University in Portland.

GNAC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 2-4 at Porter Park, Concordia University, Portland, Ore.

Thurs., May 2
Game 1: No. 3 Concordia vs. No. 2 Western Oregon, Noon
Game 2: No. 4 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 1 Central Washington, 2:30 p.m.

Fri., May 3
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 10 a.m.
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 12:30 p.m. (Elimination Game)
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3, 3 p.m. (Elimination Game)

Sat., May 4
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 2:30 p.m. (If Necessary)

Live Stats/Video: gnac.tv
 
GNAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
 
The Wolves are the only team to appear in all seven GNAC Tournaments, dating back to its inception in 2013. Western Oregon won the tournament in 2014, topping Central Washington in the championship round. They also hold the second-most wins in tournament history, trailing CWU by one.
 

Year	CWU	CU	MSUB	NNU	SMU	SFU	WOU	WWU
2013	1-2	--	--	--	3-1	3-2	0-2	--
2014	3-2	--	--	--	1-2	--	3-1	0-2
2015	--	--	3-0	--	1-2	--	0-2	2-2
2016	4-1	0-2	--	--	1-2	--	2-2	--
2017	1-2	--	--	--	0-2	--	2-2	3-0
2018	0-2	--	--	3-0	--	2-2	1-2	--
Totals	9-9	0-2	3-0	3-0	6-9	5-4	8-11	5-4

 

NFCA West Region Poll
Rank	School	D II Record	In-Region Record
1.	Concordia (Calif.)	40-6	37-6
2.	UC San Diego	29-10	29-10
3.	Chico State	29-13	29-13
4.	San Francisco State	31-16	31-16
5.	Central Washington	26-13	26-13
6.	Azusa Pacific	30-14	27-11
7.	Western Oregon	25-14	21-11
8.	Sonoma State	28-17	28-17
9.	Hawaii Hilo	29-16	29-16
10.	Western Washington	23-15	23-15

 
WOU IN DII STATS: The Wolves are ranked No. 14 in NCAA DII with a .338 batting average... WOU is No. 27 in the country with a .403 on-base percentage and No. 12 overall with 0.4 triples per game... Ayanna Arceneaux is ranked No. 7 nationally with a .488 batting average and No. 22 in NCAA DII with a .535 on-base percentage.

WOU IN GNAC STATS: The Wolves hold the GNAC's No. 2 batting average at .338 for the season... The Wolves' pitching staff tops the league with a 2.86 ERA... Three Wolves are in the GNAC's top 10 for batting average with Ayanna Arceneaux (1st, .488), Ryanne Whitaker (8th, .393), and Kennedy Coy (9th, .379) among the conference leaders... Maddie Mayer and Haley Fabian are tied for the No. 2 spot on the conference leaderboard in ERA, both finishing the regular season with a 2.55 mark.

10+ HIT STREAKS: Five Wolves have registered 10-game hitting streaks this season... Kennedy Coy is currently riding the longest streak of the season at 15 games which began back on April 6… Ayanna Arceneaux provided the next longest streak at 14 games while Jenna Kelly hit safely in 13 straight contests... Ryanne Whitaker and Cheyanne Rimer each posted 11-game streaks earlier this season... Arceneaux reached base in a team-best 22 consecutive games from March 23 to April 19... Whitaker enters the postseason having reached base in 19 straight contests.

FABIAN GNAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Senior Haley Fabian earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors in the final week of the regular season after tossing two complete game shutouts. In total over a two-game span between wins April 27-28 against Saint Martin's and Central Washington, respectively, Fabian spun 14.0 innings, allowing four runs on 14 hits, walking one and striking out nine. She struck out a season-high seven batters in the game against the Saints. She finishes the regular season tied for the second-best ERA in the GNAC with a 2.55 mark.

TRIPLES LEADERS: Four WOU players are tied for the conference lead in triples with four: Tyler Creach, Ryanne Whitaker, Kennedy Coy and Ayanna Arceneaux.

MIGHTY MAYER: In a stretch that included three straight shutouts, freshman pitcher Maddie Mayer won six consecutive starts from the circle from March 25 until April 19... Mayer held her opponents scoreless for 27 straight innings before Concordia broke the string with a single run in the top of the 2nd on April 14... For her efforts, Mayer was named the GNAC Pitcher of the Week on April 15 after going 3-0 in the week with a 1.84 ERA.

ARCENEAUX AMONG ALL-TIMERS: Now qualified for several of the school's all-time career leaders after crossing more than 200 at bats during her career, sophomore Ayanna Arceneaux is now listed in the school's all-time rankings in a trio of offensive categories... For her career, Arceneaux holds the school's No. 1 all-time batting average (.418) and on-base percentage (.459)... In addition, her current career slugging percentage (.578) is the No. 4 mark in school history... Her 2019 averages in both batting average and on-base percentage currently represent the school's single-season records. 

SARGENT HITS 400: With a 7-5 win in the opener over Concordia on April 14, WOU head coach Lonny Sargent notched his 400th career win as a collegiate skipper... In his 7th season in Monmouth, Sargent holds a 197-164 record with the Wolves... Before arriving at Western Oregon, Sargent tallied 175 wins while at Mt. Hood CC and 31 victories at Utah State... Sargent is ranked No. 2 in school history in career wins behind Pam Knox... Knox tallied 226 wins from 2003-12 and is also the GNAC all-time record holder.

STEADY STARTERS: Ayanna Arceneaux (LF) and Cheyanne Rimer (3B) are the lone Wolves to start all 45 games at the same position this season...Ryanne Whitaker has also logged 45 starts with 43 starts at second base, one at shortstop and one as the designated hitter... Sydney Bowers (SS) and Tyler Creach (CF) have started the same position in 44 of the team's 45 games.

WOU WINS RECORD: Pitching a 5-inning complete game on March 13 against Northwest Christian, WOU senior Haley Fabian collected her 33rd career win in the red and white to set the all-time school record (NCAA DII era)… Christina Cooke held the previous record with 32 wins from 2005-2008… Fabian now has a 39-23 overall record for WOU and also holds the school's save record at five.

FABIAN RANKS: In addition to the WOU wins records, Haley Fabian is ranked in WOU's all-time top 5 in several other pitching totals, including: complete games (No. 2, 43), appearances (No. 3, 86), starts (No. 3, 64), innings (No. 3, 417.2) and strikeouts (No. 3, 287).

RIMER POWER: Senior Cheyanne Rimer is represented in several of WOU's all-time career top-10 offensive categories… Rimer holds the school's No. 7 slugging percentage (.517), No. 7 mark for home runs (17) and No. 9 mark in career doubles (28).

WHITAKER WHEELS: With two stolen bases against San Francisco State on March 30, senior Ryanne Whitaker set WOU's all-time career record… Whitaker surpassed previous co-record holders Val King (48, 2001-03) and Tyler Sutherland (48, 2007-10) and now has 57 total stolen bases in her career… Whitaker's .851 success rate (57-of-67) on the base paths is good for No. 3 all-time… Marissa Card holds the school record at .939 (46-of-49) set from 2002-04... Whitaker's 20 stolen bases this season is a career high for a single season and is tied for the third-highest total in school history... Kelsie Gardner holds the single-season school record with 24 thefts in 2017. 

TIDWELL TOSSES SHUTOUT: Freshman Reilly Tidwell hurled WOU's first shutout of the season with a 2-hitter against Northwest Christian on March 13… Tidwell struck out four and walked three in the 8-0 win.  

WOU SOFTBALL FIELD UPGRADES: The WOU Softball Field received dramatic upgrades in the summer of 2018… In addition to new netting and a completely new backstop the entire playing surface received treatment… A Bernhardt Golf Drainage system was installed in the outfield to improve playability in the natural grass area while a Hellas Matrix® Turf was installed in the infield.

GNAC OPENER: The Wolves recorded a 3-1 record in the opening week of GNAC play on March 9-10...The Wolves posted a sweep against Simon Fraser on March 9 with 6-3 and 9-3 scores... WOU went on to win the opening game against Western Washington on the following day before falling 10-2 in the final game of the weekend.

RECORD RBI DAY FOR CREACH: WOU centerfielder Tyler Creach went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in a career-best seven RBI in the second game against Simon Fraser on March 9... Creach belted a solo homer to lead off the 1st for the Wolves and returned with a grand slam in the 2nd inning... Batting again with the bases loaded in the 3rd inning, Creach sliced a single to plate two more runners... One RBI away from tying the WOU and GNAC record, the Wolves loaded the bases for Creach yet again in the 4th inning but SFU forced an infield pop-up to retire Creach for the only time in the game.

BACK-TO-BACK(S): The Wolves connected on back-to-back home runs in both games against Western Washington on March 10... In the first game against the Vikings, Cheyanne Rimer and Jenna Kelly opened the 2nd inning with solo shots while Sydney Bowersand Rimer went yard to begin the 4th inning of the nightcap.

PITCHING OPTIONS: Five different WOU pitchers recorded a win during the team's first 10 wins of the season... Haley Fabian leads the club with 86 innings of work and has a 10-3 record this season... Maddie Mayer is next up with 73 2/3 innings from the circle and has a 9-2 mark. 

TAKING THREE: Five different players have recorded a triple so far this season for WOU while the Wolves did not allow a triple until the team's 18th game of the season... WOU has an 15-4 edge over its opponents in three-baggers.... Ayanna Arceneaux and Ryanne Whitaker share the GNAC lead with four triples this season and are three shy of Lydia Foster's school record of seven set in 2005... Kennedy Coy and Tyler Creah have three triples each for the Wolves this season.

FLORIDA RECAP: Playing in Florida for the first time since 2001, WOU went 4-3 while competing at the PFX Athletics Tournament March 1-4… WOU played teams from four different NCAA Division II conferences, including four games against members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

WOLVES BREAK INTO TOP 25: Picking up 35 points, Western Oregon broke into the NFCA Coaches' Poll with a No. 24 ranking on March 20… Ranked No. 9 in NCAA DII, UC San Diego (26-7) is the top team from the West Region... In all, the West Region landed three teams in the top 25 with Concordia Irvine (No. 15) and Sonoma State (No. 2) also receiving national recognition.

WOLVES PERFECT IN VEGAS: Overcoming deficits in all three games, WOU went 3-0 in games at the Las Vegas Desert Stinger on Feb. 1-3. The Wolves opened play with an 8-3 win over Colorado Christian and followed the performance up with a 6-5 win in a 9-inning battle against Cal State Monterey Bay. WOU closed out the weekend with a 7-2 win over No. 7-ranked Chico State... Senior Ryanne Whitaker led the team with two triples, both of which took place on opening day of the Desert Stinger. .

TOP-10 UPSET: Down 2-0 heading to the 6th, WOU scored seven runs over the final two stanzas to stun No. 7-ranked Chico State in the final game of the Desert Stinger. The Wolves out-hit Chico State 8-4 with Maddie Mayer tossing four innings of no-hit ball to close out the game and collect the win.

MAYER NAMED GNAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Picking up two wins in the opening week, freshman pitcher Maddie Mayer was named the GNAC Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 4. In her collegiate debut, Mayer tossed a 9-inning complete game to help the Wolves to a 6-5 win over Cal State Monterey Bay. Mayer returned by holding No. 7-ranked Chico State hitless for four innings in a 7-2 WOU win.

WHITAKER ON WATCH LIST: An All-West Region selection last season, senior infielder Ryanne Whitaker was among 50 players tabbed to the NFCA DII National Player of the Year Watch List. Whitaker was the lone player on the list from the GNAC,

PRESEASON GNAC COACHES' POLL: Western Oregon was picked to finish in third place out of eight teams according to the 2019 GNAC Preseason Poll. WOU notched 41 points to trail preseason favorite Northwest Nazarene (61 points) and runner-up Central Washington (59 points). NNU picked up five first-place votes with CWU nabbing the final three first-place picks.

2019 RETURNERS: The Wolves return eight position starters and three pitchers from their 2018 squad. Senior infielder Ryanne Whitaker (Huffman) earned First Team All-GNAC and NFCA All-West Region honors after she finished with a .397 batting average with 37 runs, 26 RBI, and a .517 slugging percentage. Sophomore outfielder Tyler Creach led WOU as a freshman with a .409 batting average and finished with 72 hits to earn First Team All-GNAC and Second Team NFCA All-West Region awards. The lineup also includes returners in senior infielder Cheyanne Rimer, sophomore infielder Sydney Bowers, sophomore outfielder Ayanna Arceneaux and senior pitcher Haley Fabian.

2018 RECAP: Western Oregon went 28-25 overall last season with a 15-13 mark in GNAC play. The Wolves notched a pair of walk-off wins on the final day of the regular season to clinch the No. 4 seed in the GNAC Tournament. The Wolves fell 3-0 to NNU in the opening game of the GNAC Tournament and returned with a 4-2 win to eliminate Central Washington. WOU's season ended with a 6-3 defeat against Simon Fraser.