ELLENSBURG, Wash. - For the second-straight season and third time in the last four years with a GNAC postseason, Northwest Nazarene softball will take the top overall seed into the GNAC Championships this weekend.

The championships are set to take place from Thursday to Saturday, May 5-7, at Frederick Field on the campus of Central Washington University. NNU is the top seed, followed by Saint Martin's as the 2-seed, Western Washington as the 3-seed and Central Washington as the 4-seed.

NNU will open the tournament against host school Central Washington, who enters the championships with a 19-25 overall record and 10-14 GNAC mark, facing the Wildcats in the second game on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

With a 30-18 overall record and 18-6 conference mark, NNU secured its second consecutive regular-season championship and its fourth straight GNAC Championships appearance with an impressive run through the final half of the season. The Nighthawks went 13-3 against conference foes in the last month, which included series sweeps over Montana State Billings and Western Oregon and a series victory over Simon Fraser.

NNU excels in the circle, leading the GNAC with a 2.58 earned run average with the fewest earned runs (116) and walks (97) allowed in the conference. Sophomore Sidney Booth leads the conference with her 1.91 ERA, 15 wins and 184 strikeouts in 164.2 innings. She is among the Division II leaders with 23 complete games. Booth also helps herself at the plate, ranking second in the GNAC with a .390 batting average.

Senior Tori Hensley provides a solid second look in the circle, ranking sixth in the GNAC with a 3.38 ERA and eight wins in 74.2 innings. Freshman Charlotte Forniss has been effective as well with a 3.30 ERA in 39 innings as a part-time starter.

Senior Ivy Hommel ranks eighth in the conference with a .368 batting average and leads the GNAC with 54 runs scored. She is among six NNU players batting .300 or better. Sophomore Abigail Gagnon is batting .308 and junior Maia McNicoll, who is tied for first in the GNAC with 11 home runs and 10th in the nation with 61 RBIs, is batting .307.

The Nighthawks are also very patient at the plate, leading the GNAC and ranking ninth in the nation with 190 walks on the year. 

The Nighthawks also won the GNAC regular season in both 2018 and 2021, the only program in NNU history to do so three times in a span of four full seasons. 2018 was the first season that the Nighthawks qualified for the GNAC Tournament following its inception in 2013, and NNU has now reached the last four in a row. During that stretch, NNU has a 6-4 mark, including going 3-0 in 2018 to claim their only GNAC Tournament title. Last year, the Nighthawks reached the title game but fell to Western Washington 3-1.

Originally scheduled to be played on the campus of Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Washington, the tournament was moved on Monday due to the forecast for heavy rain in the Puget Sound region and the prospect of unplayable field conditions.

The GNAC Championships open on Thursday with No. 2 Saint Martin's facing No. 3 Western Washington at 2 p.m. Pacific. No. 1 Northwest Nazarene will then play No. 4 Central Washington at 4:30 p.m.

The double-elimination tournament ends with the championship game on Saturday at noon. The winner of the GNAC Championships receives the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.
 

Full Schedule
*all times Pacific

Thursday, May 5
Game 1: No. 2 Saint Martin's vs. No. 3 Western Washington, 2 p.m.
Game 2: No. 1 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 4 Central Washington, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, May 6
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 10 a.m. (elimination game)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 12:30 p.m.
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 3 p.m. (elimination game)

Saturday, May 7
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary), 2:30 p.m.