Softball | 3/18/2010 2:36:24 PM

What's happening…
The Western Oregon University softball team will return home for a four-game series against Northwest Nazarene, Mar. 19-20. The teams will open with a doubleheader Friday, at 1:00 p.m., before capping off the series with another doubleheader beginning Saturday, at noon.

A look at Western Oregon…
Western Oregon took three of four games at Saint Martin's last week to move to 9-8 on the season and 7-5 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Wolves now trail GNAC leader Central Washington (10-2) by three games. WOU has also played well at home, by winning four of its first five games. Its three straight wins against SMU marked its longest winning streak of the season.

WOU is averaging 3.5 runs per game while giving up 4.0 runs. Wolves' batters are hitting .260 on the season and have already racked up 33 extra base hits (13 homers, 20 doubles). They are slugging .389 and have a .348 on-base percentage.

Tyler Sutherland leads WOU and is tied for seventh in the GNAC with a .379 batting average. She is also tied for the conference lead with five home runs, and is first with 17 runs scored and a .724 slugging percentage.

Kendra George (.341), Bailey Rueck (.339) and Kendra George (.303) are also all hitting over .300. Jessica Hallmark is the team leader with 12 RBI and Rueck is second with 10.

Kelsey White is the GNAC leader with a 1.20 ERA. She has started her freshman season 4-0. She has allowed six runs and 30 hits in her first 35 innings pitched. Her .234 opponent batting average against also lead the GNAC. Stephanie Albrecht also stands with a sub 2.00 ERA (1.97) and a 2-0 record.

White GNAC Pitcher of the Week…
Kelsey White was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for the week of Mar. 8-14. White, a freshman from Salem, Ore. (South Salem High School), allowed just one run in 12.1 innings covering three games as the Wolves won three of four games at Saint Martin's. White was credited with the victory in two of the games as she improved her record to 4-0.

A look at Northwest Nazarene…
The Crusaders are 4-12 on the season and eight games back in the GNAC race with that same record. They won their opening two games of the season before dropping their following 10 games. Recently they split a four-game set with Saint Martin's to end their 10-game slide.

As a team, NNU is batting .243 and averaging 2.4 runs. The Crusaders also sport a .310 on-base percentage and have hit just two home runs on the season. Their pitching staff has a 4.16 ERA while their opponents have a 1.92 ERA.

Haley Hevern leads NNU with a .362 batting average and a .492 on-base percentage. Emily Renfrow (.346) and Catherine Lowery (.300) are the other Crusaders hitting above .300. Lowery also leads the team with six RBI.

Nicole Grummons (2-5) paces the pitching staff with a 3.85 ERA and Chelsey Anderson (2-6) has a 3.94 ERA. These two starters have made all but one start for the Crusaders and have all four of their wins.

GNAC standings…

                                     W      L      PCT   GB     W      L      PCT

Central Washington          10      2    .833       ---     10      4        .714

MSU Billings                     8      4    .667        2     10      7        .588

Western Oregon                7      5    .583        3      9      8        .529

Western Washington           5      7    .417        5      5      7        .417

Saint Martin's                    6     10    .375        6      7     14        .333

Northwest Nazarene          4     12    .250        8      4     12        .250