NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene softball split Friday's doubleheader against Simon Fraser with a 5-0 win and a 10-7 defeat, but were able to keep pace with Saint Martin's atop the GNAC standings.
The Nighthawks and Saints are still tied at the top, each at 16-6 in conference play, with NNU improving to 28-17 overall. Both teams are slated to play their final two games tomorrow, NNU with two more against SFU and the Saints visiting Western Washington.
Game One
NNU got on the board right away in the bottom of the first, with
Maia McNicoll driving in a run with a single and
Tori Hensley following with another RBI single to make it 2-0. Another run came across in the third on an RBI single from
Abigail Gagnon.
McNicoll added to the score and her RBI total with a two-run single in the fourth, wrapping up NNU's scoring with the 5-0 lead.
The Nighthawks definitely didn't need any more runs, however, as
Sidney Booth tossed a gem in the circle. Booth went all seven innings, earning the shutout after allowing just three hits and striking out seven.
NNU totaled 13 hits and had five players record multi-hit games, with
Emma Mulligan, Booth, McNicoll, Hensley, and Gagnon each registering two.
Game Two
McNicoll notched her fourth RBI of the day in the first inning of game two, driving home Mulligan with a single. SFU took the lead with their first runs of the day on a homer in the third, but
Ivy Hommel evened things back up in the bottom of the inning as she scored on an error.
The fourth inning saw struggles in the circle for NNU, as SFU tallied four runs. The visitors' lead would grow to eight a few innings later on a three-run home run in the top of the seventh, as the Nighthawks were then down to their last three outs trailing 10-2.
NNU did their best to rally in the frame, scoring five runs including a two-run homer from Booth, but SFU was able to hold it to just five as they took the three-run victory.
Next Up
The Nighthawks and SFU will play two more tomorrow, with first pitch of game one set for 11:00 a.m. After that, NNU will head back to Lacey for the GNAC Championships on May 5-7, with final seeding to be determined after tomorrow's contests across the conference.
