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BURNABY, B.C. – The Crusaders kept on swinging Saturday and it led to a mercy-rule victory on the road.

Ashley Pesek hit a home run and drove in five runs for the Northwest Nazarene softball team, which scored an 11-3 win over host Simon Fraser in the first game of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday.

The Clan bounced back to take the nightcap, 12-5.

"Our offense had a good day today," NNU head softball coach Rich Wagner said. "We feel like we have a chance in every game when we swing the bats like this."

The NNU offense came alive late in the opener after the Clan snagged an early 2-0 lead.

An Alyssa Nitschelm RBI sacrifice fly got NNU (7-29, 2-15 GNAC) on the board in the top of the fourth and opened the floodgates on a seven-run rally that saw Whitney Carlton double in two runs, Pesek added a two-run single and Lisa Sylvester tack on an RBI base hit in the charge.

A Gatalina Schuster RBI double followed by a three-run home run by Pesek in the top of the fifth gave NNU a commanding 11-3 advantage that provided the mercy-rule, eight-run win.

Along with driving in five runs, Pesek (7-19) also earned the win in the circle, striking out eight.

In the nightcap, the Crusaders tied the game 4-4 in the top of the second inning but couldn't keep up with the Clan (16-18, 5-7), who plated a run in the second, three in the fifth and four more in the sixth to pull away for the win.

Kiahna Brown led the Crusaders offense in the nightcap, picking up a pair of hits and driving in a pair of runs.

"If we make a few more plays on defense we have a chance to win two games today," said Wagner, whose team is back in action at home next weekend, hosting Montana State Billings in doubleheaders at 2 p.m. on Friday and at noon on Saturday

"We want to keep improving every week," Wagner said, looking ahead.