Paul F. Davis | Managing Editor
While most students were in class thinking about what they wanted to do the upcoming weekend instead of listening to their professors, Western Oregon’s Softball team was making history. The Wolves’s Softball team tied Western’s all-time best win/loss record with 33 wins and 18 losses — a record which was set in 2008. This near record-setting performance also earned seven players the title of all-GNAC: 1st team — Ayanna Archeneaux and Ryanne Whitaker; 2nd team — Tyler Creach and Cheyanne Rimmer; Honorable Mention — Kennedy Coy, Hayley Fabian and Maddie Mayer.
This led Western to earn the No. 2, in their seventh consecutive appearance, in the GNAC Championship.
The tournament was double elimination and started on May 2, lasting through May 4. It was located at Porter Park on the campus of Concordia University in Portland.
The Wolves started off by competing against the No. 3 seeded Concordia. On May 2, Concordia put the pedal to the metal, won its first-ever game at the GNAC Championships and beat the wolves with ease, 5-0.
The next make-or-break game was played against No. 4 seeded Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks on May 3. The Wolves were, again, held scoreless, 0-3. Concordia scored two runs in the opening inning and ended any shifts in the score by scoring the final point of the game in the sixth frame.
After two consecutive losses in the GNAC Championship, all Western could do was wait to see if they would be invited to NCAA DII Softball championship. Spoiler alert — Western was selected and was given the No. 4 seed in the Western Region. Two other teams from the GNAC, which marked the first time in conference history three teams had been selected for the tourney, would also to get the chance to be national champions.
Western’s first game of the national tournament was played on May 9 against the San Francisco State Gators located at Eagles Field on the campus of Concordia Irvine. Western then lost, 3-6.
The following day, May 10, Western beat both Concordia Portland, 1-0, and then the San Francisco State Gators, 1-0, at Eagles Field to avoid elimination. This was made possible by first-year Maddie Mayer’s once-in-a-lifetime performance, delivering two showstopping shutouts which allowed Western to sneak into the finals.
Playing against the host team, California Irvine, on May 11, Western was going into its fourth game in three days. In what would be Western’s final game, the three-day-stretch proved to be too much for the historic Wolves. Western lost 0-5. With the season now over, the softball team can come home proud that not only did they help make history, but they proved that they are one of the best of the west.
Contact the author at pfdavis14@wou.edu
Photo by Paul F. Davis
