BURNABY, BC – The stage is set for the Saint Martin's softball team as they square up for a trip to the 2023 GNAC Championships on the campus of Simon Fraser University on May 4-6. The bracket has shades of last year with the Saints entering as the No. 2 seed and matching up with No. 3 seeded Western Washington in round one. Also, reminiscent of last year, the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks enter as the No. 1 seed and the regular season champs.
 
The Saints clinched their spot in the tournament thanks to a 3-1 series win over Central Washington over the weekend. After falling 7-6 in a 12-inning slugfest with the Wildcats in game one on Saturday, the Saints struck back with a 9-7 win to push them over the hump. Saint Martin's cracked four total runs in the top of the third, including a three-run bomb from Olivia Matlock. Chloe Leverington also picked up her 12^th save of the season, getting a two-out finish to the contest.
 
The Saints still needed at least one win on Sunday to lock down the two-seed and earn the right to bat in the bottom of the inning in the tournament's first game. They did exactly what they needed to do, and more. A convincing 6-2 win in game one was followed up by a mercy rule 9-1 victory in game two. The Saints now are red hot on a three-game win streak heading into the postseason.
 
The Saints ended up with a 15-9 GNAC record, two games better than third place Western Washington who the Saints will see on Thursday, May 4^th at 12 PM. The Vikings and SMU split the season series with each other, each side winning two games. The winner of the contest will meet the winner of No. 1 Northwest Nazarene vs No. 4 Western Oregon. The loser will also still be alive in the double elimination tournament and will meet the loser of NNU-WOU.
 
SMU leads the conference in numerous categories. On offense, they are atop the league in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, doubles, triples, sac bunts and sac flies. The three-headed pitching monster of Leverington, Tia Ridings, and Abby Runyon are second in the conference in ERA and strikeouts while Levering has 12 of the 14 team saves for the Saints, which not only leads the GNAC in 2023, but is an all-time conference record for both Leverington and the Saints. Defensively the Saints have committed the least errors in the conference, and catchers Kekai Schultz and Rylee Gaudia have the second lowest stolen bases against, and the least amount of passed balls allowed in the league.
 
"We had another successful season, and our team is excited entering the GNAC playoffs as the No. 2 seed," said Head Coach Jim Peterson, "If our team plays good defense and gets a few timely hits, we could be a team that advances in the playoffs."
 
Stay tuned on SMUSaints.com or follow the Saints @SMUSaints and @SMUSaints_SB for all the latest scores and updates.
 
WATCH THE GNAC FIRST ROUND GAME AGAINST WESTERN WASHINGTON HERE
 
LIVE STATS FOR ALL GNAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES WILL BE HERE
 
BUY TICKETS TO ATTEND THE GNAC CHAMPIONSHIPS HERE