Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NAMPA, Idaho — The Crusaders found their offensive mojo, but also came up a bit unlucky Wednesday afternoon.

The Northwest Nazarene softball team plated 18 runs on the day, but it wasn't quite enough as Willamette scored early and put the Crusaders in comeback mode all day long, sweeping a nonconference doubleheader 10-6 and 21-12 in 6 innings at Halle Field on the NNU campus.

"We did great offensively, it just wasn't enough today," said NNU head softball coach Rich Wagner, whose team now carries its offensive momentum with it to California to play five games in the Tournament of Championships hosted by Cal State Stanislaus.

NNU (4-23, 1-11 GNAC) opens the tournament Friday against the Academy of Art, the first of three games that day.

The Crusaders found themselves in catch-up mode in part because of the speed of the Bearcats (6-14), who started off the top of the first with a pair of bunt singles to ignite a 5-run rally in the opener.

"Their speed was definitely a factor all day," Wagner said.

Undaunted, the Crusaders battled all day, scoring two in the bottom of the second aided by a Willamette error, then making a major charge with a pair of runs each in the third and fourth to close to 8-6 down.
 

Lily Paschal had an RBI single and Whitney Carlton added an RBI triple in the third inning for NNU, which then got an RBI single from Lisa Sylvester and a Kendra Day RBI double in the fourth.

But that was as close as the Crusaders got in the opener, thwarted in their comeback efforts by Willamette reliever Hayley Glantz who earned the save with two scoreless innings of relief.

Carlton and Ali Schauer each had a pair of hits to led NNU's offense in the first game.

An offense that found itself needing to erupt in the nightcap as the Bearcats again used a pair of infield singles in the top of the first to ignite a rally — a 13-run rally.

"I give Willamette lots of credit, they played great and used their speed to their advantage," Wagner said, adding, "but I was pleased how our offense responded, too."

NNU's offense took a huge bite out of the Bearcats lead as Carlton doubled home three, Brianna Kinghorn added an RBI single then Gatalina Schuster capped a 7-run Crusader rally with a three-run home run, and it was a 13-7 ballgame after three frames.

Both teams traded runs from there with the Crusaders getting RBIs from Paschal, Carlton and Schauer to close to within 15-11 down headed to the fifth before the comeback ran out of steam.

Carlton and Schauer again had a pair of hits apiece in the nightcap, with Carlton adding five RBIs.

Paschal, Schuster and Kiahna Brown also picked up a pair of base hits each in the day's second game for the Crusaders.