Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MONMOUTH, Ore. – One swing away for a totally different day.

That's how close the Crusaders came on Saturday, as a line drive ended the game instead of fueling a Northwest Nazarene comeback, as NNU fell 3-1 and 14-2 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader at Western Oregon.

With two on and one out in the top of the seventh inning, Brianna Kinghorn crushed a ball toward right field for NNU.

Instead of plating a run and igniting a Crusader comeback, though, the ball was snagged out of the air by Wolves second baseman Kelsie Gardner who fired to first for a game-ending double play.

"That line drive double play easily could have won the game instead of ending it," NNU head softball coach Rich Wagner said.

Powered by the momentum of that game-ending snag, Western Oregon jumped in front early in the nightcap with four runs in the first inning in route to the doubleheader sweep.

In the opener, NNU (2-13, 0-4 GNAC) grabbed a quick lead on a one-out RBI single from Kinghorn in the top of the first.

Western Oregon (7-11, 4-0) answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning and pushed two more home in the fourth.

The Crusaders tried to answer, putting two runners aboard in each of the fourth, fifth and eventually the seventh, but couldn't drive any home in the hard-luck loss.

Kinghorn and Ali Schauer each had a pair of hits in the opener for NNU.

In the nightcap, Lily Paschal had an RBI base on balls in the second inning and Paschal scored on a dropped pop-up in the fifth, accounting for all the Crusaders offense.

Ashley Pesek, Schauer and Paschal each had a hit in the second-game setback for NNU, which is back on the road again next weekend playing doubleheaders at Central Washington on Friday and Saturday.