SPOKANE, Wash. – The 4th-seeded Whitworth University softball team hopes to make some real noise this weekend at the 2023 Northwest Conference tournament, hosted by Linfield. The winner of the four-team playoff in McMinnville, Oregon will receive the NWC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
As the fourth-seeded team in the 2023 NWC tournament, the Bucs will take on top-seeded Linfield in the first game on Friday.
Tournament Format: The NWC softball tournament is a double-elimination event. Each team must lose twice to be eliminated. Top-seeded Linfield is the host for the entire event. The Wildcats play 4th-seeded Whitworth in the first round, while second-seeded Pacific Lutheran plays #3 George Fox in the other first round game on Friday. On Saturday the two teams that won on Friday will play the first game, and the winner advances to the championship round. Friday's two losing teams play in game four, and the loser is eliminated while the winner takes on the loser of Saturday's first game in another loser-out game late on Saturday. The surviving team advances to the championship round on Sunday against the winner of Saturday's first game. The tournament winner receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA regionals.
Fans can follow video and live results from links on the Whitworth softball schedule.
Pirate Tournament History: Whitworth has played in the NWC tournament every year since its inception in 2011, except for 2012. There was no conference tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19. The Pirates are 12-19 all-time in the tournament and they won it in 2017. Whitworth has finished as the runner-up in two recent NWC tournaments (2019 and 2021). Only twice (2018, 2022) have the Pirates gone 0-2 in the tournament.
The Pirates: Whitworth heads into the NWC tournament 23-17 overall and 15-13 in the NWC. The Pirates finished fourth in the regular season standings behind 6th-ranked Linfield (36-3, 27-1), Pacific Lutheran (26-14, 18-10) and George Fox (25-15, 18-10). PLU got the #2 seed based on its sweep of GFU early in the conference schedule. George Fox is the only NWC team to defeat Linfield so far this season. Whitworth is 3-9 against the other three teams in the NWC tournament in 2023, and 12-4 against everyone else in the conference.
The Pirates rank third in the NWC with a .319 team batting average. The Pirates are fourth in team ERA (4.41) and fourth in team fielding percentage (.965).
Defensively, the Bucs lead the NWC and rank second in all of NCAA DIII, in double plays turned (16).
Offensively, Whitworth is second in the NWC and third in NCAA DIII in hits (364). Interestingly, the Pirates are third in the NWC and third in NCAA DIII in doubles (76).
Mattea Nelson leads the conference with a new school record 20 doubles, which ranks second in DIII. Her hit total (62) is the highest in the country and the conference. She is second in the NWC in batting average (.443) and second in triples (4). Jazz Johnson leads the league, and ranks fifth in DIII, in sacrifice flies (5).
Corinne Vasiloff leads the NWC in starts (20) and complete-games (17). She is second in the conference in strikeouts (91) and second in wins (15).
The Coach: Bob Castle is in his fourth season as the Pirates head coach after serving four years as an assistant under previous head coach Cristal Brown. He has a record of 68-66. Castle guided the Bucs into the championship game of the 2021 NWC tournament. He also worked as a softball umpire for 14 years, including 11 years working at all collegiate levels.
