ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The final weekend of the regular season is here for the Western Oregon University softball team and it will be an important final series at Central Washington. It will be the last Great Northwest Athletic Conference games of the year and WOU is battling to make the conference tournament. The teams will play a pair of doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 p.m. each day.
Entering this week, WOU has six conference wins and will need to win all four games against the Wildcats to have a chance to make the conference tournament. Central Washington holds the fourth and final spot with nine wins, while Simon Fraser remains alive with eight wins. WOU would also need Simon Fraser to either go 0-4 or 1-3 at Northwest Nazarene, as SFU holds the tiebreaker. In the event that somehow all three teams finish tied, then it would go to the record the teams had against each other.
WOU (21-25, 6-14 GNAC) played four close games against Western Washington this past weekend, taking the opener in 11 innings (5-4) on a walk-off homer by Natalie Willoughby. The Wolves also won the third game of the series following a complete game shutout gem from Maddie Mayer in taking the 2-0 victory.
Head Coach Lonny Sargent has a chance for more history this week. Entering this weekend, Sargent has 251 wins at WOU, which is just one away from tying Frank Cheek for the most wins while coaching in the GNAC in overall wins of 252. Sargent will already retire as the winningest coach in WOU program history and will finish fourth in the GNAC for the most conference wins.
Logan Carlos leads the team with a .369 average, along with 58 hits, 32 runs, five triples and 20 walks. She is second on the team in home runs with nine and RBI with 32, while also collecting eight doubles. Willoughby leads the team with 11 home runs and 34 RBI, while adding a .346 average, 44 hits, 31 runs and 10 doubles. Zoie Recolan leads the team in doubles with 11, while hitting .336, with 43 hits, 15 runs, a triple, a home run and 17 RBI. Sophie Franklin adds 28 hits, 19 runs, six doubles, two triples and 16 RBI. Maddie Doig holds a .267 average with 35 hits, 18 runs, five doubles, a triple, two home runs and 12 RBI. Kirah McGlothan has 34 hits, 23 runs, eight doubles, three home runs and 25 RBI. Currently third on the team in both home runs and RBI. Kate Ronning has 34 hits, 21 runs and 13 RBI this year. Erica Soliz holds a .323 average with 20 hits, four doubles and 14 RBI.
In the circle, Mayer went 2-0 for the week to earn GNAC Pitcher of the Week accolades. On the season, Mayer is now 8-9 with a 2.63 ERA in 109.1 innings, adding a save and 10 complete games, along with 81 strikeouts. Reilly Tidwell has three wins and four complete games in 73 innings, holding a 3.55 ERA and has 51 strikeouts. Chelsea Smith leads the team with nine wins in 93 innings, posting a 3.84 ERA and nine complete games with 102 strikeouts. Nicki Derrick has a win and a save in 19 innings this year. Jada Young has pitched in 10 innings, while Soliz has a save in three innings.
Mayer ranks fourth in the GNAC in complete games, while Smith is sixth in the conference. Carlos leads the GNAC and is 75th nationally in hits, leads the GNAC and is 43rd nationally in total bases (103), leads the GNAC and is 25th nationally in triples, and leads the GNAC and is 58th nationally in triples per game (0.11). Willoughby leads the GNAC and is 50th nationally in home runs (11), leads the GNAC and is 53rd nationally in home runs per game (0.26) and leads the GNAC and is 112th nationally in slugging percentage (.685). Mayer is seventh in the GNAC in appearances (22) and is fifth in the GNAC in WHIP (1.31). Smith is third in the GNAC and 72nd nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (7.7). Bella Valdes is seventh in the GNAC in walks per game (0.50).
Central Washington holds a slight 57-54 record against the Wolves since 2002, with the Wildcats going 28-16 in Ellensburg during that time. During the last meeting in Ellensburg last year, the teams split a four-game series that was originally scheduled to be played in Monmouth, but was later moved to Ellensburg. The teams ended up playing eight games against each other last year, with WOU going 3-1 at home to take the season series, 5-3.
Central Washington is 18-22 overall and 9-11 in GNAC play on the season. They have gone 9-5 at home this season. The Wildcats were off last week, with their last games taking place Apr. 16 at Western Washington.
Allie Thiessen leads CWU with a .382 average, adding 50 hits, 33 runs, nine doubles and 17 RBI. Makenna King is hitting .327 with 35 hits, seven doubles and 16 RBI. Alyssa Bethagen holds a .315 average with 10 home runs and 32 RBI. Brooke Jordan adds 12 doubles, two home runs and 19 RBI.
In the circle, Rhaney Harris leads the team in wins (10), ERA (3.36), complete games (13), and innings pitched (123). Isabel Womack has seven wins and nine complete games in 95.1 innings, along with a team-high 70 strikeouts. Ashlee Laver adds the other win on the staff.
Live video and stats will be available for the games against Central Washington. Live video can be found here and live stats can be found here.
