BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University softball team has a pair of players listed on the 2024 Tucci/NFCA DII Player & Pitcher of the Year Watchlist revealed on Thursday.
 
Freshman pitcher Kaiana Kong and sophomore shortstop Hailey Rath were among 120 players across the nation to be included on the first edition of the list, with 15 players selected from each of the eight regions across the country in NCAA Division II.
 
Kong (Ewa Beach, HI/Campbell HS) has made 14 pitching appearances for the Vikings, all coming in relief. Kong is among the nation's pitching leaders going 6-1 with a 0.97 ERA, allowing six earned runs in 43.1 innings pitched. The right-hander has recorded 32 strikeouts, walked only seven batters and held opponents to a .193 batting average.
 
Rath (Eatonville, WA) leads the Vikings and is listed third in the GNAC batting .364 (32-for-88) with 17 runs scored, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs and 16 RBI while starting all 26 games at shortstop. During her freshman season in 2023 Rath hit .371 with 17 doubles, 2 triples, 7 home runs and 37 RBI.
 
The Vikings are 22-4 overall on the season and 2-2 in GNAC play heading into a weekend four-game series vs. Saint Martin's at Viking Field. WWU is ranked No. 13 in the NFCA Division II Coaches Poll and is coming off a 5-0 record at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock, California.
  The list is broken down into the eight NCAA Regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West) with up to 15 student-athletes represented in each region. The list is compiled by the elected members of the NFCA Division II All-American Committee with one head coach representing each of the eight NCAA regions. To be eligible, a student-athlete's head coach must be a member of the NFCA.
 
Voted on by the NFCA's Division II All-American Committee, the 2024 Tucci/NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year winners will be announced on May 27 following the conclusion of the NCAA Division II National Championships. All student-athletes are eligible for the end-of-the-season award and do not have to be on this list to be considered.
  Here is the listing of the 15 West Region players included on the initial watchlist with the full 120-player list available at NFCA.org:
 

• Sidney Booth - P/UT - Sr. - Northwest Nazarene
• Emma Bumatay - UT - So. - Northwest Nazarene
• Katlin Entrup - P - Sr. - Concordia Irvine
• Taryn Fujioka - IF - Jr. - Chaminade
• Cortney Koelmans - Sr. - P - Concordia Irvine
• Katie Korstrom - Sr. - P - Azusa Pacific
• Kaiana Kong - P/UT - Fr. - Western Washington
• Hailey Rath - SS - So. - Western Washington
• Teagan Seeton - OF/UT - So. - Montana State Billings
• Jayline Sloss - P- Jr. - Cal State San Marcos
• Tereise Tosi - IF - Jr. - CSU San Bernardino
• Larchelle Tuifao - DP/C - Jr. - Chaminade
• Madison Waymire - IF - R-Jr. - Cal State San Marcos
• Mackenzie Willis - Cal State Monterey Bay
• Anna Zoia-Buescher - OF - Sr. - Sonoma State