MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University softball team will get to open the 2022 season right at home when they host Bushnell for a doubleheader on Tuesday starting at 12 p.m. at the WOU Softball Field.
The Wolves will play several non-conference home doubleheaders this season. Following the games with Bushnell, WOU will play Warner Pacific on Feb. 11 and then to close the month of February against Montana State Billings on Feb. 26-27.
The 2021 season featured a no-hitter by Reilly Tidwell at Northwest Nazarene and Chandler Bishop was named NFCA National Player of the Week in early April becoming the first in program history. Head coach Lonny Sargent became the program's all-time winningest coach and now has 230 victories at WOU. He passed Pam Knox's 226 career victories at WOU that was set in 2012.
Bishop finished the season leading the Wolves in multiple categories including average (.357), home runs (7), RBI (22), slugging percentage (.750), walks (13), OPS (1.222) and on-base percentage (.472). In the circle, Bishop pitched in seven games that were all starts, tallying a win and two complete games in 32 innings.
Tidwell returns this season after leading the Wolves in ERA (3.94), strikeouts (28) and was tied for the team lead in complete games (3), while pitching 48 innings and tallying a pair of wins. Maddie Mayer is back in the circle for the Wolves after leading the team in wins (4), innings pitched (54.2) and tying for the team lead in complete games (3). Several other pitchers will be back for the Wolves after pitching for the first time this past season. Erica Soliz saw time in 32 innings, collecting two wins and a complete game. Nicki Derrick added three wins and a save in 25.2 innings. Jada Young tallied two wins in 18 innings.
Logan Carlos is back for the Wolves after finishing fourth on the team with a .288 batting average. She also added 21 hits, four doubles, a home run and seven RBI in 28 starts. Kirah McGlothan also played in 28 games last year and is back for the Wolves, collecting 13 hits, five doubles, three home runs and 11 RBI. Soliz also added four hits in 10 at-bats, driving in three runs. Maddie Brandner tallied a double and two RBI on the season. Bella Valdes saw time in 20 games, posting a .273 average with nine hits, a double, a triple and three RBI. Baylie Kahele added 12 hits, a double and seven RBI. Zoie Recolan played in 23 games coming away with 17 hits, three doubles, two home runs and nine RBI. Isabelle Lewis played in 16 games, posting nine hits, three doubles and four RBI. Karly Tiedeman added a double on the season. Hannah Stewart played in 22 games and had nine hits, two doubles and four RBI. Sophie Franklin scored nine runs and added an RBI. Natalie Willoughby had a hit and two runs scored.
In addition to the players back for this season, WOU will welcome several new players to the team this year. Transfer Chelsea Smith will be joined by freshmen Savina Molina, Maddie Doig, Maddie Tomasetti, McKenzie Westphal and Kate Ronning.
Bushnell went 13-33 last year, finishing the year winning three of four against Northwest University. Miranda Jensen led the team with a .396 average, tallying six doubles, a triple, two home runs and 18 RBI. Anabel Mendez added a .389 average with four doubles, two triples, six home runs and 23 RBI. Jensen also led the pitching staff with a 5.20 ERA in 128 innings, going 8-13 on the season. Sam Silver pitched in 92.1 innings and went 3-11 with a 7.58 ERA. Both Mendez and Silver are back for the 2022 season.
WOU and Bushnell have played eight times since the 2014 season with the Wolves winning each matchup. The last time the teams played was during the 2019 season with WOU taking the sweep by scores of 12-4 and 8-0. All eight meetings have taken place in Monmouth.
Live video and stats will be available for the game against Bushnell. Live video can be found here and live stats can be found here.
Tickets can be purchased here or can be purchased at the gate by cash only.
