MONMOUTH, Ore. – Northwest Nazarene softball came up short in the final of the GNAC Championships on Saturday, falling to Western Washington 3-1.
 
With the Vikings (23-12) taking the GNAC's automatic qualifier, the Nighthawks (30-12) will now have to wait and see if they will be selected as an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. NNU has a great chance of earning a bid, as they were ranked third in the latest regional rankings, with the top six teams in the final rankings qualifying. Those selections will take place on Sunday, May 16 at 8:00 p.m. MT.
 
After going 11-5 in conference play during the regular season to earn the top seed going into the GNAC Championships, the Nighthawks defeated four-seed Western Oregon in their opener on Thursday before falling to two-seed WWU on Friday morning. NNU had to face WOU again in an elimination game yesterday afternoon, and routed the Wolves 9-0 to advance to today's final.
 
The game was a matchup of the two best pitchers in the conference, with Sidney Booth going for NNU and Anna Kasner for WWU. The Nighthawks got to Kasner first, as Maia McNicoll drilled a solo homer to left center in the bottom of the second to give NNU the lead.
 
The Vikings tied the game in the fourth, though, on a sacrifice bunt. Two innings later, it was WWU's Brooke Fesenbek who recorded what proved to be the game-winning hit, knocking a 1-0 pitch from Booth over the fence in left for a two-run home run.
 
McNicoll did her best to start a rally in the top of the seventh, leading off with a double to left. She would be stranded on second, however, as a lineout and two strikeouts ended the inning and the game.
 
McNicoll was the only Nighthawk to have Kasner's number on the day, registering two of NNU's four hits and drawing a walk in her other plate appearance. Booth finished a great effort in the circle with six hits allowed and seven strikeouts over six innings of work.