Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The Crusaders have closed the gap between themselves and the GNAC's best.

Northwest Nazarene's softball team came one small rally away from potentially sweeping a doubleheader from preseason Great Northwest Athletic Conference favorite Western Washington on Saturday, taking the opener from the host Vikings, 3-1, then falling 6-2 in the nightcap.

"Western is a good team," NNU head softball coach Rich Wagner said. "Our team showed it is ready to compete with the top teams in our conference."

And beat the top teams as the Crusaders (8-9 overall, 2-2 GNAC) got all the offense it needed in the top of the third inning in the opener.

Cassidy Fifield singled home Anna Olson, then Kylie Orr put NNU on top 3-0 with a two-run double.

Brooke Bonsen (4-3) and Kendall Goodwin teamed up to make the lead last, combining to give up just a solo run on six hits while teaming up to strike out six Viking batters in the victory.
 

Looking for the sweep, NNU jumped in front on a Lisa Sylvester RBI fielder's choice in the top of the first in the days' finale, but a three-run rally in the bottom of the third helped the Vikings take a 4-1 advantage.

From there, WWU (10-8, 5-3) added a run in the each of the fourth and fifth innings to hold on and split the four-game weekend series.

"We had 13 very well played innings today and just one inning in game two where we struggled to play our best softball," Wagner said.

Fifield added a late RBI sacrifice fly in the nightcap for the Crusaders, who got three hits in the twinbill from Fifield.

"Kylie and Cassidy continued to lead our offense," Wagner said, adding "Brooke did a great job commanding the zone again today.

"All of our pitchers competed in the circle well today."

After splitting their league opener away from home, NNU finds itself back on the road against next weekend as they play GNAC doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday at Concordia.