IRVINE, Calif. - Northwest Nazarene softball has made the trip down to California and is set to open play in the NCAA West Regional on Wednesday afternoon against Central Washington.

As the three-seed, NNU will take on the sixth-seeded Wildcats at 2:30 p.m. Pacific/3:30 p.m. Mountain tomorrow afternoon at Eagles Field in Irvine. The winner will advance into the winner's bracket and play Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Pacific, while the loser will face an elimination game later on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

The other teams in the region are top seed and host Concordia Irvine, two-seed Biola, four-seed Western Washington, and five-seed Hawaii Hilo. A live video stream and live stats will be available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cui/ for all games at the regional. Ticket information is on CUI's Tournament Central page, linked here. A full schedule of the games is at the bottom of this preview.

Nighthawk Notes

This is just the second time that NNU has reached the NCAA postseason, with the other occasion coming in 2018 when the Nighthawks earned the auto bid from the GNAC after taking the conference championship. NNU will still be looking for their first NCAA tournament win, however, as they fell to Chico State and UC San Diego in their two games that season.

NNU has enjoyed arguably the best season in program history in 2021, entering the regional with an overall record of 30-12 and an 11-5 mark in conference play, good enough to claim the GNAC regular season title for the second time in school history. NNU has been in and out of the NFCA Top 25 all season, either No. 25 or receiving votes in every poll for the last two months. The Nighthawks rank in the top 20 nationally in batting average, hits, doubles, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and shutouts.

Senior catcher Brittany Genuardi was named the GNAC Player of the Year, D2CCA West Region Player of the Year, and First Team All-Region by the NFCA. One of the best players in NNU history, Genuardi owns the program career records for homers, RBI, and walks, and is currently second in runs scored, hits, and doubles. Freshman pitcher/utility Sidney Booth was named the GNAC Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-Region by both the NFCA and D2CCA, leading the region in wins, strikeouts, and strikeout-to-walk ratio, and also is first in RBI while batting in the cleanup spot. Sophomore outfielder Maia McNicoll leads the region in homers and was named to both the GNAC and West Region First Teams. Rich Wagner was also named the GNAC Coach of the Year for the second time during his tenure. This season, the Nighthawks are 4-4 against the other teams in this year's tournament (3-3 vs WWU; 1-1 vs CUI).

Scouting #6 Central Washington

Led by Theresa Moyle and Samantha Stanfield, the Central Washington Wildcats finished second in the GNAC this season.  The Crimson and Black finished their regular season campaign with a 17-14 record, which included a 9-7 mark in conference play.  Moyle's .380 batting average leads an offense which posted a .326 average as a unit.  The Wildcats have clubbed 77 extra base hits, including a Division II-leading 24 triples, with Harlee Carpenter finishing second in DII with seven triples.  In the circle, Stanfield led the 'Cats with a 3.05 ERA over 65 innings. The right-hander struck out 49 hitters and held the opposition to an average of .254.  The 'Cats are 3-5 against Western Washington this season, which is the only regional tournament team they have faced already in 2021.

Scouting #1 Concordia Irvine

The Concordia Irvine softball team enters the regional tournament on a nine-game winning streak after going 4-0 in the Automatic Qualifier Pod Series against Dominican and Hawai'i Hilo. Ranked No. 11 nationally in the NFCA poll for the past two weeks, the Eagles are led by All-American pitcher Callie Nunes who was recently named PacWest Pitcher of the Year for the third time in her career. Nunes is 11-3 and leads the Eagles in wins, strikeouts, complete games and saves this season. She also owns the school records for career strikeouts (over 700 and counting) and career saves, while ranking second all-time in career wins. Second baseman McKinsey Thorpe was named PacWest Player of the Year, and enters the tourney leading her team in many categories including batting average (.364), hits and steals (14).  In the heart of the order, Missy Nemeth and Sydney Sprinkle have each crushed seven home runs, while freshman shortstop Rylie Rohr has sent six over the fence. The Eagles are a combined 8-8 against teams in the regional tournament (5-7 vs Biola; 2-0 vs Hawai'i Hilo and 1-1 vs NNU).

Scouting #2 Biola

The Biola Eagles posted an impressive 19-13 campaign in 2021, landing in second place in the PacWest Southern California pod. In her third season at the helm, Biola head coach Nikki Udria was recognized as the PacWest Coach of the Year. BU pitcher Paige Austin led the way on the field for Biola with 10 wins and 131 strikeouts to earn an All-PacWest First-Team selection. At the plate, Ruth Munoz ended the season with a splash, hitting her first collegiate home run with a three-run walk-off long ball. Biola also went 7-5 vs. CUI this season, which was the only other regional tournament team the Eagles have faced so far this year.

Scouting #4 Western Washington

The Western Washington University softball team is making its fifth NCAA Division II West Regional appearance receiving the automatic bid from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference after winning the league tournament. WWU enters the regional with a 23-12 record and is led by a pitching staff that has recorded a 2.31 team ERA. Senior Anna Kasner is an All-West Region selection in the circle going 13-3, 1.62 ERA with 153 strikeouts and junior shortstop Tatum Dow also earned All-Region First Team honors with a .449 batting average, seven doubles, six home runs and 26 RBI. The Vikings are led by third-year head coach Sheryl Gilmore. WWU was also the 1998 NAIA National Champions in their final season before moving to the NCAA level.  WWU enters the tournament a combined 8-6 against other teams in this year's regional field (5-3 vs CWU; 3-3 vs NNU).

Scouting #5 Hawaii Hilo

The Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans (17-11) head to the NCAA Division II West Region tournament for the first time since 2013 after just missing qualifying in 2018 and 2019.  The Vulcans have seven seniors on this veteran roster, led by three-time All-PacWest shortstop Kiarra Lincoln (.367, 12 doubles).  Second Team All-West Region selection Leah Gonzales had the best ERA in the PacWest during the regular season (1.27) and is 7-2 on the year.  Under the direction of head coach Callen Perreria, who is in his 25th season, the Vulcans have a long storied history of softball success, having produced 32 winning seasons in 34 years of existence.  The Vulcans are 0-2 this season against CUI, which is the only tournament team they have faced thus far. Both those contests were decided by just one run during the PacWest Automatic Qualifier round-robin tournament, which was hosted by Dominican last week.
 

NCAA DIVISION II WEST REGIONAL
at Eagles Field, Irvine, California
Wednesday, May 19
Game 1: No. 4 Western Washington vs. No. 5 Hawaii Hilo, Noon
Game 2: No. 3 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 6 Central Washington, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (Elimination Game), 5 p.m.

Thursday, May 20
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 1 Concordia Irvine, Noon
Game 5: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 2 Biola, 2:30 p.m.
Game 6: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5 (Elimination Game), 5 p.m.

Friday, May 21
Game 7: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 6 (Elimination Game), 2:30 p.m.
Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (Elimination Game), 5 p.m.

Saturday, May 22
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9, Noon
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10 (if necessary), 2:30 p.m.