The Wildcats ended their season in a pair of losses to the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks and the Western Oregon Wolves. The teams battled in close games to keep their championship hopes alive but came up short.

“The guys fought hard, it was an up and down season, so I was simply happy the guys never quit,” CWU Head Coach Desi Storey said. “The guys have battled adversity all season, I know it is not the outcome they wanted but I am super proud of them either way.”

During the first game versus Northwest Nazarene, Ben Leid hit 2-4, had two RBIs, and scored a run, Trevor Tripoli hit 1-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run and Sam Lauderdale also went 1-4 with an RBI.

Travis Helm hit a double, went 1-3 at the plate, and pushed across one run, Austin Ohland went 1-4 with a run and a walk and Brady Hinkle had a hit in three at-bats.

“It was a crazy season from summer until spring, we just battled the whole way and could not be prouder of my team,” Outfielder Sam Lauderdale said. “You do not really know what teams go through until you are in their shoes, this team has so much heart just wish we could have finished it out on top.”

During their loss that ended the Wildcat’s season versus the Western Wolves, Reid Rasmussen got the start for the Wildcats and recorded three outs on three pitches in the first inning. He would pitch five innings before Nolan Milliman came in for an inning and struck out a batter.

Alex Brady entered in the seventh inning and finished the game. Trevor Tripoli hit 2-3 with a home run, one RBI, and two runs scored. Charlie Larson went 2-5 at the plate with an RBI, Jake Felton was 1-4 at the plate with an RBI double and Travis Helm went 1-3.

“It is not the way we wanted our season to end, but the way we just worked our tails off throughout the season just showed how much we wanted to win,” Catcher Austin Ohland said. “We were young this year and a lot of young guys got to get in and earn their stripes, we just got to get back to work and learn from our mistakes.”

The Wildcats started the season slow, going under .500 in the first half of the season. The Wildcats were not in the playoff picture until a sudden turnaround in which they pushed themselves in with a great second half to the season. The Wildcats won their last 7 out of 10 to give themselves a shot at the playoffs. 

“The turnaround happened after we beat Montana State Billings, we just looked at each other and said nobody can stop us if we believe we can win every game,” Pitcher Reid Rasmussen said, “The older guys had to step up and lead the young guys, once we were all on the same page, we were a whole new team.”

The Wildcats get a little break before they are back training in July in search of the championship for next season.