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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — How sweep it is!

Kylie Orr's sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning snapped a 2-2 tie and provided a dramatic victory for the Northwest Nazarene softball team Tuesday in the opening game of a doubleheader in San Francisco.

Not settling for one win, though, the Crusaders came out swinging early in the nightcap as Orr, Brittany Genuardi and Shelbie Martinez each drove in a run to give NNU a three-run lead in the top of the first inning, then the Crusaders held on completing a nonconference doubleheader sweep of host San Francisco State.

"Great to get two wins today," Crusader head coach Rich Wagner said of NNU's 4-2 win in nine innings then 3-2 victory. "The girls have been working hard and it paid off today."

Of course, there was no one key on the day for NNU (4-7 overall), which swept its first doubleheader since April of the 2015 season.

Pitcher's Brooke Bonsen, Rylee Thomas and Rae Young set the tone for the day by not walking or hitting an opposing batter, forcing the Gators to earn everything they got on offense.

And the NNU defense helped out, as well.

"Brooke, Rylee and Rae all pitched very well," said Wagner who added, "our defense made all the routine plays and some great plays when we needed them."

The combination of tough pitching and timely defense led to 11 San Francisco State base-runners being stranded.

The Crusaders, conversely, left 17 runners aboard, meaning the contests might have been a bit more lopsided with a couple more clutch base hits.

"I still think we can be better offensively," Wagner said. "When our bats come alive this team will be tough to beat."

NNU's offense did enough to earn the sweep, though, snapped a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning in the opener as Orr doubled and scored on a Genuardi RBI single, then pinch-runner Lauren Bassett hustled home on a Young groundout to give the Crusaders a 2-0 advantage.

The Gators (3-5) rallied to tie it in the bottom half of the inning, forcing extra innings were the Crusaders came through in the ninth.

Cassidy Fifield led off with a walk, stole second and moved to third on a Lily Paschal bunt single before scoring the game-winner on Orr's sac fly to left. Genuardi then added an important insurance run, plating Paschal with an RBI single to right.

Bonsen (3-3) earned the complete-game win, scattering eight hits and striking out one for NNU, while Genuardi led the offense with a pair of hits and two RBIs.

Orr and Genuardi then got NNU rolling quickly in the nightcap with back-to-back RBI doubles before Martinez tacked on one more run with an RBI single to left for a 3-0 lead after a half inning.
 
Just enough, as it turned out, as Thomas (1-1) earned her first Crusader win, striking out two and scattering six hits over five innings before turning it over to Young who worked two scoreless innings of relief for her second save.

Young also helped lead the offense as she went 2-for-3 at the plate, as did Orr in the second game.

The sweep gives the Crusaders momentum headed into the finale of their six-game California Bay Area road trip as NNU plays another doubleheader at Notre Dame de Namur on Wednesday with first pitch at noon (Mountain time).