BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The pinnacle of the season has arrived and everything CSU Bakersfield's softball team has worked for rests on this week. The Roadrunners will kick off the 2018 Western Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday with their eyes on the prize: a WAC championship and a trip to the NCAA Regionals.

CSUB enters the WAC Tournament as an underdog after placing fifth of six teams during league play. Since joining the conference in 2014, the `Runners have never been seeded better than third, but have always managed to play their best softball when it counts the most.

In 2016, the `Runners knocked off the 2-seed before defeating pre-tournament favorite New Mexico State twice en route to their first WAC title. The 2018 edition of the squad will look to rekindle some of that magic in Las Cruces, N.M. this week.

The `Runners are led by a pair of upperclassmen who drove the CSUB offense. Senior Julea Cavazos was the cornerstone and constant in a year of ups and downs. The outfielder posted her third collegiate season with a batting average (.319) over .300. Junior transfer Paige Johnson fit right in this season and exploded for a .354 clip during league play to lead all `Runners.

In the circle, injuries forced CSUB into a two-woman rotation with senior Summer Evans taking the bulk of the workload. The two-year `Runner has started 62% of her team's games this year, but freshman Daryn Hitzel has seen almost 100 innings of action in her rookie campaign, gaining vital experience.

The WAC Tournament opens up on Wednesday, May 9, with a single game for the `Runners. CSUB is set to take on Grand Canyon in the opening round. The Lopes were slated as the preseason favorites, but the `Runners managed a 2-1 series victory over GCU at the start of WAC play.

Either a win or a loss sends the `Runners to face one of two tall tasks. With a victory, CSUB will take on host and top-seeded NMSU in the second round Thursday morning. A loss would set the `Runners up with an elimination game Thursday night.

For up-to-the-minute information on the WAC Tournament, follow @CSUBAthletics on Twitter or visit the conference's Tournament Central page. All-Conference honorees will be announced here at GoRunners.com following the conclusion of Tuesday night's awards banquet.
 

~GoRunners.com~