CHICO – It had been nearly a month – and 30 plate appearances – since Hailey Stockman smacked her Chico State single season record-tying eighth home run. Despite pushing her batting average up over .390 since that August 16th blast, you could forgive the junior catcher for perhaps getting a little anxious to “touch ‘em all” one more time. She picked the right stage to launch her record-setting bomb – her solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning provided a huge insurance run, and the Wildcats defeated Western Washington 3-1 Friday in opening round play of the NCAA West Regional at University Softball Field.

It was a record-setting win for the team as well – the victory raised the ’Cats overall record to 30-17, giving Chico State softball the first back-to-back 30-win seasons in the program’s history. Friday’s loss dropped Western Washington to 36-15 on the year.

Chico State now advances to Saturday’s 11 a.m. winners bracket game against U-C San Diego, who in Friday’s early West Region game shaded Central Washington 2-1. Though the Wildcats and Tritons are both members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, Saturday’s contest will amazingly be the first time the two teams have faced each other this season.

The ’Cats wasted little time getting on the scoreboard against Western Washington Friday, scoring a pair of first inning runs off the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Pitcher of the Year, Erika Quint. With one out and Taylor Hanamaikai Sam Quadt in scoring position, Stockman delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Hanamaikai, then following a walk to Rachel Failla, Quadt scored from third on a short fly out to right off the bat of Jackie Munoz, giving Chico State a 2-0 lead.

Wildcats’ starting pitcher Sam Baker worked her way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the second inning, and wiggled out of a second and third, one-out situation in the fourth to keep Western Washington off the scoreboard. The Vikings finally broke through in the top of the sixth inning when Hilary Cosentino scored from third on a Caitlin Dotlich sacrifice fly, cutting the Chico State lead in half. That set the stage for Stockman, who led off the bottom of the sixth with a towering home run over the right field fence – her record-setting ninth big fly of the year pushing the Wildcats’ lead back to two. Baker retired Western Washington in order in the top of the seventh to seal the Wildcats’ 3-1 victory and a date with U-C San Diego Saturday morning.

Baker scattered four hits and struck out four in going the distance, improving her record to 21-9 on the season. Quindt gave up only three hits to the Wildcats in her complete game performance, but was saddled with the hard-luck loss to fall to 28-6 for the year.

BOX SCORE

Chico State and San Diego State will begin Saturday’s West Regional action at 11 a.m.; Central Washington and Western Washington will square off in the loser’s bracket elimination game at 1:30 p.m. The loser of the Wildcats-Tritons game and the winner of the Wildcats-Vikings contest will then play at 4 p.m. in the day’s second elimination game. You can follow all three games via Live Stats by visiting the West Regional Tournament Central homepage.