May 30, 2007

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Winning 21 of its last 26 regular-season games, the Western Washington University softball team rebounded from a 13-15 start to win a school-record 34 games and have one of the most successful seasons in the program's history.

The Vikings finished with a 34-22 record and posted a 15-5 league mark, capturing their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference title and making the school's second trip to the NCAA Division II West Regional and the first since 2003.

Senior Jackie Quint (Silverdale/Central Kitsap) was named GNAC Pitcher of the Year and junior catcher/designated player Liza Teichler (Sammamish/Skyline) was the league's Player of the Year. Completing a sweep of the GNAC's top honors, Western's Lonnie Hicks was Coach of the Year.

Teichler was a first-team Daktronics West Region all-star, with second-team recognition going to Quint. Teichler also was a second-team National Fastpitch Coaches Association West Region all-star along with freshman utility player Sarah McEnroe (Woodinville).

Quint, who set eight school records and tied another during her four-year career, finished the season with an 18-11 record, 24 complete games and a 1.97 earned run average, one of just two GNAC pitchers under 2.00, striking out 175 in 188-2/3 innings pitched. She led the league with a .217 batting average against.

Liza Teichler

Teichler finished third in the GNAC with a team-leading .368 average, being the league leader in doubles with 15 and tying for the top spot in runs batted in with 40.

Hicks has a 156-130 record in six years directing Western's program, becoming just the second coach in school history to reach 150 victories. Teichler and Quint were both unanimous first-team GNAC all-stars.

Also named a league first-team all-star was senior outfielder Misty Britt (Kelso), who hit .332 and drove in 26 runs. Britt, who scored a team-high 36 runs, also led the team in hits with 69 and the region in triples with seven, tying school records in both categories. She also had a WWU record 98 total bases.

Britt set a school record with five hits in a 16-6 win at Central Washington on Apr. 26, while also tying game marks with four runs and five RBI.

Second-team all-GNAC honors went to senior shortstop Nicole Walker (Kenmore/Juanita) and freshman third baseman Meghan Flem (Hood River, OR/Hood River Valley).

Flem led the GNAC with a school-record nine home runs, just three short of the school career standard, and had 37 RBI. Walker hit .304 with nine doubles and four home runs.

McEnroe received all-GNAC honorable mention for her work on the mound and at the plate. She had a 12-3 record as a pitcher with a 2.43 ERA, and hit .364 over the final 25 games of the season to finish with a .295 batting average.

Sophomore second baseman Katie Barker (Auburn/Auburn-Riverside) hit .292 with 32 runs scored and 16 RBI, having a team-best 12-game hitting streak. Sophomore outfielder Morgan Parkerson (RAF Lakeheath, England) batted .275 with four home runs, 20 runs scored and 19 RBI in just 80 at bats, and freshman catcher Hannah Becker (Robstown, TX/Calallen) hit .264 with four home runs and 19 RBI.

In all, the Vikings set or tied 30 school game, season and career records.

Western had 258 runs scored, 448 hits, 227 RBI, 638 total bases, and 34 home runs, all school records and league-high figures. The previous home run mark was 21 set in 2006.

Twice the Vikings hit a school-record three homers in one game and they had three grand-slams, two by senior first baseman Ashley Osman (Federal Way/Jefferson), who finished with six homers on the season.

Osman batted .306 and had 40 RBI, just four shy of the school record. She committed only two errors in a school-record 350 chances.

Osman and Walker also were GNAC academic all-stars, Walker for the third straight year and Osman for the second.

Quint set career records for strikeouts (478), innings pitched (602-2/3) and complete games (66), while matching the mark for wins with 48. She fanned a school-record 15 on two occasions, on the way to breaking her own season record for strikeouts. Quint also established season standards for wins, innings pitched and complete games.

At the West Regional in Turlock, Calif., Quint pitched every inning for Western, despite having to deal earlier in the week with the passing of her father. She kept the Vikings in each game, allowing just four earned runs, as they fell 2-0 to eventual regional champion Cal State Stanislaus and 3-1 to Sonoma State.

Western overcame fourth-inning or later deficits on six occasions. None was more entertaining than an eventual 13-12 victory in eight innings over Chico State at the Tournament of Champions on March 31. Only a two-out, three-run home run by Flem kept the game from ending after five innings because of the eight-run mercy rule. Western forced extra innings and then overcame a two-run margin to win in the eighth.