MONMOUTH, Ore. – After winning three of four games to open the season last week against Central Washington, the Western Oregon University softball team will remain at home this weekend when they face Western Washington to open Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.
WOU (3-1) excelled in one-run games against the Wildcats as all three wins came by one run. The Wolves posted a pair of walk-off wins in the series taking the first game in eight innings (2-1) and then the third game of the series with a walk-off hit in the seventh (5-4). WOU then closed the series with a 2-1 win.
Head coach Lonny Sargent hit a career milestone during the series with Central Washington as following the series finale win he reached 250 career NCAA victories. Coach Sargent has gone 219-179 during his career at WOU and added 31 wins previously at Utah State at the NCAA level.
Through the first four games of the season Zoie Recolan leads the team with a .500 batting average. She has tallied six hits, two doubles and two RBI picking up a hit in each game so far. Aleya Turner, Sydney Bowers and Hannah Stewart are all hitting .300 or above to open the year. Turner is at .385 with five hits, a double and an RBI. Bowers and Stewart are both hitting .300 with Bowers tallying a home run and two RBI. As a team, WOU is hitting .257 with 26 hits, six doubles, a triple, a home run and seven RBI. The Wolves have also gone 2-2 in stolen base attempts.
In the circle, Jada Young holds a 0.00 ERA after tossing four scoreless innings in her WOU debut picking up the win against CWU. Nicki Derrick also had a strong WOU debut collecting a pair of wins and is off to a 2-0 start and 1.11 ERA in 6.1 innings of work. Chandler Bishop has logged the most innings with 12, posting a 2.92 ERA and recorded a no-decision in both starts. Reilly Tidwell threw a solid five innings in her start posting a 4.20 ERA. Maddie Mayer closed the series with CWU getting a save as she appeared in two games, tossing two-thirds of an inning. As a staff, WOU holds a 3.25 ERA in 28 innings, collecting 14 strikeouts.
Western Washington is off to a 9-3 start going 4-2 at home, 3-1 away and 2-0 in neutral site contests. The Vikings are currently receiving votes in the NFCA Coaches Poll entering this week. This past weekend they took three of four from Saint Martin's outscoring the Saints 18-9. Before facing the Saints, the Vikings played another GNAC opponent in non-conference action taking three of four from Central Washington in Ellensburg.
WWU has six regulars in the lineup and six more off the bench hitting over .300. Tatum Dow leads the way hitting .459 with 17 hits, two doubles, a home run and 10 RBI. Lauren Lo adds a .457 average with 16 hits, two doubles, a triple and six RBI. As a team, the Vikings are hitting .372 with 125 hits, 27 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 74 RBI.
In the circle, Anna Kasner is coming off of a weekend in which she tossed a perfect game against Saint Martin's, going six innings and tallying six strikeouts. Overall on the season, Kasner has a 5-1 record in six starts, holding a 1.72 ERA in 36.2 innings of work. She has 48 strikeouts to just 14 walks and has allowed 21 hits. Sydney Brown is second on the team with a 2.52 ERA in four appearances and 8.1 innings of work. Kira Doan has seen the next-most starts to Kasner with five going 3-2 with a 3.77 ERA in 26 innings. As a staff, WWU has a 2.95 ERA in 76 innings of work, recording 78 strikeouts.
The two teams didn't play each other last year, as the last meetings came on April 2019 when they split a doubleheader. Since 2002, Western Washington holds a 55-38 record in the series, going 23-17 in Monmouth and 24-20 in Bellingham, along with an 8-1 mark in neutral site games against the Wolves. Over the last 10 meetings, WOU holds a 6-4 mark in the series, including a stretch where the Wolves won five-straight from 2018 into the first meeting in 2019, sweeping the 2018 regular season series.
As a team, WOU ranks in the top-three in the GNAC in ERA (3rd, 3.25), hits allowed per seven innings (3rd, 8.50), triples per game (2nd, 0.25) and in win-loss percentage (2nd, .750). Individually, Kirah McGlothan and Recolan are tied for the GNAC lead and tied for 29th nationally in doubles per game (0.50). McGlothan and Stewart are tied for first in the GNAC and tied for first nationally in toughest to strikeout (0.00). Young leads the GNAC and is second nationally in hits allowed per seven innings (1.75). Mayer is tied for the GNAC lead and tied for 42nd nationally in saves (1). Bowers is tied for third in the GNAC and 22nd nationally in triples per game (0.25), while also tying for third in the GNAC and 70th nationally in triples overall (1). Young is third in the GNAC and 74th nationally in WHIP (1.00).
In order to ensure the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches, officials and staff, and to provide the best opportunity to complete the spring seasons, spectators will not be allowed for regular-season home events at GNAC institutions for the remainder of the 2020-21 academic year. Additionally, spectators will not be allowed at the GNAC's spring championships. Live video and stats will be available for the games.
WOU and WWU will open their four-game GNAC series with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Follow along with live video found here and live stats found here.
