Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore

NAMPA, Idaho - The Central Washington University softball team swept Northwest Nazarene University this afternoon 11-2 and 9-4 in the opening Great Northwest Athletic Conference games for both schools at Halle Field in Nampa.

The Wildcats (3-5, 2-0 GNAC) were led by Liz Jusko who finished the day 5 for 7 with two RBI's.  Molly Coppinger joined Jusko with three hits in game one and had two RBI's while Amanda Hopkins was 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI's.

Cara Duckworth, Arielle Chao and Kristin Refsland paced NNU (0-6, 0-2 GNAC) with three hits each.  Duckworth was 3 for 3 in game one and both Chao and Refsland hit solo home runs in game two.

Maria Gau (2-2) and Heidy Wells (1-2) each earned pitching wins for the Wildcats and Duckworth (0-3) and Chelsey Anderson (0-3) took losses for NNU.

CWU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game one, scoring single runs in the first and second innings, but the Crusaders evened it at 2-2 in the third with a Refsland sacrifice fly and a Chelsea Allsbrook RBI single.

Tied into the fifth inning, the Wildcats took control with a five-hit, seven-run rally and then closed out the game with two more runs in the top half of the sixth.

In game two the Wildcats led 4-0 after three and a half innings when Refsland hit her first home run of the season for the Crusaders and NNU added two more in the fifth on Chao's solo dinger and another Allsbrook RBI single to make it 5-3 in favor of the Wildcats.

CWU would answer in the top of the sixth with three runs and add one more in the seventh before the Crusaders plated one in the bottom of the seventh to fall 9-4.

The teams will complete the four-game league series tomorrow at Noon.