By: Burke De Boer sports editor
The 2017 Wolves softball team call themselves the Road Warriors.
After 49 regular games, with every home game being canceled and relocated due to weather and field conditions, they traveled 14,655 miles to play ball. The Road Warriors will travel again come May 4. This time to Lacey, Washington, to compete in the GNAC championships.
One month earlier, the Wolves were dead last in the conference.
“This whole season has been a string of bad luck, with injuries and ineligibilities,” said Ku’ulei Siolo, senior catcher. “But now that everyone is back together, I think we’re really finding our groove.”
Corvallis is as close as Western Oregon Softball would get to playing on the Western Oregon Softball Field in 2017. They “hosted” two double headers at Oregon State, facing St. Martin’s on April 29 and Central Washington on April 30.
The Wolves split their first day of competition, first beating the Saints 9-5 then losing 4-5.
After the split series, the Wolves needed to win only one game against Central Washington to secure a playoff spot. They came out and took both legs of the doubleheader, 5-1 and 4-0.
The game was tied 1-1 when sophomore pitcher Haley Fabian took the mound in the first game. She threw four shutout innings on the way to the playoff-clinching victory.
“We had nothing to lose,” Fabian said. “We needed to secure our spot in the GNAC. I just had to trust my stuff and my team.”
Even after clinching their playoff berth, the Wolves didn’t slow down.
“It was such a relief to get the first win and a huge confidence booster to win the second game,” Siolo said. “When we first p
layed Central, we played phenomenal and barely lost on a couple ill-timed errors. So being able to shut down Central and show them we won’t be rolling over any time soon was amazing.”
Central Washington are the top seed this year, so the Wolves meet them again in the first round. Last year the Wildcats defeated Western Oregon in the GNAC championship game. But the Road Warriors feel confident heading into the matchup.
“Coming off that sweep is huge for us and really fired us up,” said Hailee Watilo, senior right fielder, who hit a home run in the 4-0 win. “We know it’s going to be a battle and that’s what our team’s always looking for.”
“I think Central will need to rearrange their strategy a lot if they plan on winning on Thursday,” Siolo said. “We’re peaking at the perfect time right now.”
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
