The Dixie State softball team opens the 2016 NCAA Division II West 2 Regional on Thursday in Azusa, California, taking on Central Washington in the first game of the tournament at noon MT.

The Trailblazers (36-13, 24-8 PacWest) were selected to their eighth-consecutive West Regional on Monday and are tied with Sonoma State for the longest current streak of West Regional appearances.

DSU received the No. 7 seed in the West 2 Regional, while first-round opponent CWU was tabbed as the No. 2 seed. Azusa Pacific, host of the West 2 Regional, earned the No. 3 seed and will match up with No. 6-seeded UC San Diego in game two on Thursday. Links to live stats and video will be available on Dixie State's athletic website. Live audio will also be available for all DSU games on Southern Utah Live, with Keric Seegmiller providing play-by-play.

The winners of the first two games will advance to play in game three at noon MT, on Friday. The losers drop to the one-loss bracket and will meet in the first elimination game (game four) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. MT. The winner of game four will advance to play the loser of game three on Friday at 5 p.m. MT, with the winner advancing to play the winner of game three in the West 2 Region championship (game six) on Saturday at noon MT. The if-necessary game will follow immediately should the one-loss team win game six.

All-time vs. Central Washington

Friday’s game marks the sixth meeting between Dixie State and Central Washington. The teams first met on Feb. 11, 2011, at the Las Vegas Desert Stinger tournament. DSU won the inaugural matchup, 4-1. The teams met one other time in the West Regionals, with DSU earning 8-6 and 8-0 wins over the Wildcats in 2014 in St. George. The Trailblazers own a 5-0 series lead, including a 3-0 mark on a neutral field.

All-time in West Regionals

Dixie State played its first NCAA Division II West Regional game on May 8, 2009, earning a 7-6 win over Cal State Monterey Bay. The Trailblazers went on to win the 2009 West Regional, and since then, have advanced to the Super Regionals in 2014 and 2015. DSU has hosted a West Regional four times (2009, 2013-15) and holds a 16-8 record in West Regional games, including a 4-6 mark away from Karl Brooks Field.

Know your foe

Central Washington enters the West 2 Regional with a 38-14 overall record and an 18-11 mark in Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) action. The Wildcats won the GNAC tournament, winning four-straight games after an opening-round loss to become the first team in conference history to win the tournament after falling into the one-loss bracket. CWU’s West Region No. 2 seed is the highest seed in program history. The Wildcats are led by junior infielder Kailyn Campbell (.436/42 RBIs/16 2B/7 HR), sophomore outfielder Celine Fowler (.419/18 RBIs/16 SB) and senior catcher Austin Wilkerson (.388/50 RBI/15 2B/ 9 HR). Junior left-handed pitcher Kiana Wood (18-6) leads the charge defensively with a 2.57 ERA, 66 strikeouts and four shutouts on the year.

Bassett, Yung land PacWest weekly awards

Sophomore outfielder Janessa Bassett was named PacWest Player of the Week on Monday, while junior outfielder Shelby Yung earned another PacWest Newcomer of the Week award.

Bassett hit .632 (12-of-19) in Dixie State’s final six games of the regular season. She hit two doubles, a triple and a home run, drove in six runs and scored nine runs. She also drew four walks and stole two bases. She went 4-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBIs in the opener against Concordia. Defensively, she made 14 putouts in center field, including a diving catch to prevent two runs from scoring late in a 9-6 win over Concordia and a leaping catch at the wall to rob a home run in the finale. Bassett ended the regular season as the PacWest leader in batting average (.479), hits (80) and on-base percentage (.527).

Yung earned her second honor in the last three weeks by hitting .467 (7-of-15) with a .636 on-base percentage in the last six games of the regular season. She drew seven walks and scored seven times on the week. She was 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored in the 9-6 win over Concordia. Yung ranked seventh in the PacWest in runs (42).

Making history

Senior pitcher Aryn Feickert became the DSU softball single-season strikeouts leader vs. Concordia on Friday, striking out five before the game was postponed due to lightning and rain to pass Haley Shumers (162 – 2008) for the record. She added six more strikeouts on the weekend to push her single-season record total to 169. Feickert also become the DSU all-time shutouts leader on April 25, in an 8-0 win over BYU-Hawaii. She struck out six and allowed just one hit en route to her 16th career shutout, passing the previous mark of 15 set by Michelle Duncan. Feickert also became the career strikeout leader on March 16, at Notre Dame de Namur, striking out NDNU sophomore Taylor Haynes for her 374th career strikeout to open the bottom of the sixth inning. She eclipsed the previous mark of 373, set by Lauren Folta (2009-12), and has added 75 more strikeouts to the tally for a total of 449 career strikeouts to date, the first player in DSU history to record 400 strikeouts.

Chasing history

Entering the West 2 Regional, Bassett has logged 80 hits on the year, nine hits shy of the DSU softball single-season hits record of 89 set by Nicole Chavez in 2014. With 10 hits at the West 2 Regional, Bassett will become the new single-season hits leader.

Leading the league

Dixie State ends the regular season as the PacWest leader in batting with a .343 team average. Individually, Bassett leads the PacWest in batting average (.479), hits (80) and on-base percentage (.527). Feickert ranks second in opposing batting average (.185), strikeouts (169) and wins (20).

Last time out

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The Trailblazers split a four-game series with Concordia, as the teams worked around rain and lightning delays to complete the games.

Up next

The winner of the West 2 Regional will advance to the West Super Regional at a site to be determined.

Keric Seegmiller is Assistant Coordinator of Media Relations at Dixie State University and the Voice of Trailblazer Athletics. Contact him at keric.seegmiller@dixie.edu.

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