BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Northwest Nazarene University softball team opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a split at Western Washington on Thursday.

Led by Shelbie Martinez and Jordan Adams, the Nighthawks won the opener 4-1. In the nightcap, the Nighthawks fell 4-3.

"It was nice to get a win right out of the gates," NNU coach Rich Wagner said. "I think that first game we played today, we played all three parts of the game for the first time this year which was fun.

"The second game, we played two of them. We can't walk people. We had six walks and a hit by pitch. You can't give seven free bases and expect to win."

In the opener, Adams (5-3) scattered six hits and struck out six to earn the complete game victory. Martinez drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and another on a single, while Cassidy Fifield drove in the other run.

"Jordan pitched really, really good," Wagner said. "She commanded the zone the whole day and allowed us to call pitches the entire game. She came out and gave a great performance in her first GNAC day. It's fun to see that."

In the nightcap, Western jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning before Brittany Genuardi homered in the second to cut the lead in half. Western scored twice more in the second, before Abigail Otto had a two-run single in the third.

The Nighthawks had second and third with no outs in the sixth, but couldn't score as they lined out three times.

"That's the game right there," Wagner said. "Sometimes the game isn't good to you, but you also can't walk six people and expect to win."

Rae Young pitched six strong innings in relief of Rylee Thomas (2-4), allowing two runs on three hits.

The two teams are scheduled to play another doubleheader at 1 p.m. MST on Friday, but the weather forecast could send the doubleheader to Saturday.