YAKIMA, Wash. – MSU Billings won Game 1 of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament 6-1 over Western Washington Thursday afternoon at the Yakima Sports Complex.
 
MSU Billings used solid defense, some timely and well-placed hits, and capitalized on a few miscues from Western Washington's defense to take the first game of the GNAC tournament. The Yellowjackets entered the tournament the #3 seed taking on WWU the #2 seed.
 
Jessyka MacDonald tossed a complete game for MSUB allowing just one run on four hits and earned her 17th win of the season. GNAC co-Player of the Year Taylor Hoke was 2-4 in the game and was the only player in the game with more than a single hit.
 
Freshman designated player Cameron Cassinelli crushed her fifth home run of the season, a 3-run shot over the center field fence to open up a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning.
 
MSUB scored a run each in the second and third innings. Emily Osborn and Cassinelli walked to put runners on first and second. Kelsey Devlin loaded the bases for Heather Tracy when the ball thrown to the third baseman was dropped. Tracy struck a hard ground ball straight up the middle that ricocheted off the foot of the pitcher. WWU's second baseman was able to snag it as the ball bounced off the pitcher to tag Devlin out between first and second base, but Osborn was able to come home on the play giving MSUB a 1-0 lead.
 
In the third inning, Bella Rovens reached first on a dropped fly ball to left field. Amanda Barham followed Rovens on base, reaching first on an error from the pitcher. Hoke struck a beautiful line drive to center field driving in Rovens who was on third after an error from the pitcher giving MSUB a 2-0 advantage.
 
In the fifth inning, WWU got the first two batters out, but an error from the defense allowed MSUB's Brittney Sanders on to start a rally from the Yellowjackets. Aubrey Conceicao hit a single pushing Sanders all the way to third. Osborn struck a single to shallow left, bringing in Sanders and putting runners on first and second. Cassinelli made her mark at the plate. Down in the count, she took a high outside pitch and squaring up was able to strike it just high enough for it to reach the center field fence and bounce over, lifting MSUB up 6-0 over the Vikings.
 
Western Washington did respond in the bottom of the inning with a run. The Vikings loaded the bases with singles from Lynsey Amundson and Allie Crowe plus a walk. Autumn Isaacson pushed a run home on a fielder's choice.
 
The sixth inning was quiet with six straight outs. MSUB's defense remained tight in the bottom of the inning. For the first out, Osborn made a great catch reaching across her body to the right field line to pull in a line drive. Sanders caught a high ball behind the plate for out number two. Amundson grounded out to Conceicao for the sixth straight out of the sixth inning.
 
At the top of the seventh inning Hoke got her second hit of the game followed by a double from Sanders to put two runners on, but three straight outs from the WWU defense put the Vikings up to the plate for their last chance.
 
The pitcher for Western Washington Makinlee Seelvold tried to start a rally with a double to lead off the inning, but that was all WWU produced. A ground out, a caught fly ball by Barham in left field foul territory, followed by a catch from Conceicao retired the next three batters ending the game.
 
In the circle for MSUB, MacDonald (17-6) twirled her 15th complete game of the season for MSUB.
 
Sellevold (23-8) earned the loss for Western Washington. The Vikings committed a season-high five errors in the game.
 
Montana State University Billings (27-21) had just one error and scored six runs on six hits, while WWU was held to one run on four hits.
 
"Jessyka did well on the mound getting ahead of the batters," MSUB head coach Lisa Allen said on the senior pitcher. "She went right after them and continued to get good fly ball results. Our defense played well behind her. I am extremely proud of our offense for making an adjustment early in the game. We may not have had a lot of hits, but we had very timely hitting in the game, which made a big difference. Overall I am very happy with how the team performed and we are looking forward to playing tomorrow."
 
Coming up, MSUB will face Saint Martin's in the winner's bracket. SMU won its game over Western Oregon 8-5 in the late game. MSU Billings lost its series against the Saints 3-1 during the season, but the 'Jackets haven't played Saint Martin's since the beginning of March in Lacey.
 
Live stats for tomorrow's game will be available online at gnacsports.com.
 
(All Times are in Pacific Time)
 
Friday, May 1:
2:00 p.m. - #3 MSU Billings vs. #1 Saint Martin's. Live Stats
4:30 p.m. - #2 Western Washington vs. #4 Western Oregon (loser-out). Live Stats
7:00 p.m. - Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 7 p.m. (loser-out). Live Stats
 
Saturday, May 2:
Noon - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, Live Stats
Noon. (If necessary a second game will follow at 2:30 p.m.). Live Stats