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NAMPA, Idaho – The big hit eluded the Crusaders on Saturday, and it proved costly.

Looking to make an impact right out of the gate, Northwest Nazarene loaded the bases in the bottom of the first and pushed across a run on an Ali Schauer base on balls.

But with one out and the sacks still packed, NNU couldn't push any more home, missing the chance to break the game open early.

Visiting Simon Fraser took advantage, hanging around an eventually grabbing a 3-2 win in nine innings over the Crusaders in the first game of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader.

The first win of the season for the Clan sparked an 8-5 victory in the nightcap at Halle Field on the NNU campus.

"We lost a close one in the first game, didn't get that clutch hit we needed in that first game," said NNU softball coach Rich Wagner, whose team stranded nine base-runners in the first game. "In extra innings we just didn't battle, didn't battle the way we should have.

"We needed that clutch hit offensively, and that's kind of the story of the day because offensively we just didn't step it up enough."

NNU (7-16 overall, 2-5 GNAC) maintain its 1-0 lead in the opener until the fourth when SFU tied it, then NNU grabbed a 2-1 lead on an Alyssa Nitschelm RBI single to center.

But the Clan (2-19, 2-10) tied it on an Alex Baylak RBI single to center in the sixth, and the game headed to extra innings.

Simon Fraser eventually won it in the ninth, loading the bases and scoring on an NNU error with two outs, spoiling a strong pitching effort by the Crusaders' Noelle Wright (2-10), who struck out six and allowed only two earned runs in nine innings in the circle. 

Riding the momentum of their first win of the season, the Clan jumped in front with a three-run rally in the top of the second inning of the nightcap.

"I think it changed the mood for them big-time," Wagner said of SFU's win in the opener. "It's the first win of the year for them, they got really excited and came out the next game and showed that."

The Clan tacked on two more in the fifth and three in the sixth, forging an 8-1 edge before the Crusader bats finally awoke.

Freshman Megan Lounsbury collected the first RBIs of her college career with a two-out, two-run single down the left-field line, and Kendra Day added an RBI single to score Lounsbury and make it an 8-4 ballgame after six innings.

A Justine Callen RBI single in the seventh closed the gap to 8-5 before the Crusader rally ran out of steam.

"I think that offensively, for some reason we just slowed down a bit and didn't pick it back up in time," Wagner said.

Callen had a pair of hits in the opener and Shelby Johnson had two hits in the nightcap to lead the offense for NNU, which gets two days off before returning to the diamond on Tuesday to host Lewis & Clark (Ore.) in a nonconference doubleheader at noon.