Burnaby, B.C. – Northwest Nazarene softball put on quite the offensive display across the border on Friday, outscoring Simon Fraser by 29 runs to win both games of the doubleheader, 8-2 and 24-1.
The Nighthawks improve to 14-11 on the season and 5-1 in conference play with two more games against the Red Leafs tomorrow.
Game 1
Simon Fraser struck first in the opener, scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning.
It would take until the fourth before any more scoring occurred, but it happened in a big way for the Nighthawks as NNU tallied four on five hits.
Abigail Gagnon had an RBI single followed by a two-RBI double from
Madison Felter. Felter then came in to score on a Red Leafs error to cap the frame.
The Nighthawks pushed across two more in the fifth, with
Maia McNicoll bringing home
Tori Hensley on a sacrifice fly and
Sidney Booth scoring on an error later in the inning.
NNU would plate one more run in both of the final two frames, first on a Hensley RBI single and then a solo homer from McNicoll, her seventh of the season and 33
rd in her career. She is now just one home run away from tying the NNU career record, trailing the current mark of 34 set by her former teammate and current assistant coach
Brittany Genuardi two seasons ago.
Booth had another great outing in the circle, going the full seven innings and allowing just one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts. She is also on the cusp of a significant NNU career record, now just 10 strikeouts away from Adrian Herman's 511 punchouts set in 2006. She was also one of three Nighthawks with two hits in the game, joining McNicoll and Felter.
Game 2
Game two was all Nighthawks, as NNU put on an offensive clinic with 24 runs on 25 hits through the five innings of play before the run rule took effect.
NNU scored at least one run in every inning, starting with a Hensley RBI groundout in the first before the Nighthawks put up eight runs in the second. The frame included a pair of home runs, with Booth launching a three-run blast and Gagnon belting a two-run shot.
The Nighthawks then added three in the third, including Booth's second homer of the day that made it 12-1. NNU was far from done, though, as they put up 10 runs on nine hits in the fourth, with
Emma Bumatay putting an exclamation point on the inning with a grand slam that made it 22-1. Two more runs came across in the fifth before the Nighthawks took the 24-1 victory.
Numerous Nighthawks notched notable numbers in the nightcap, including eight players with multiple hits, six players with at least three hits, and seven with multiple RBIs. Gagnon went 5-5 with four runs scored and three RBIs, Booth was 3-4 with three runs scored and five RBIs, Hensley was 3-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs, Bumatay was 2-3 with four RBIs, and Felter and
Kellcie Adams each had three hits and two RBIs.
McNicoll also added two hits and two RBIs and
Clarissa Moreno tallied three hits and one RBI. Hensley started the game in the circle and went four innings, allowing one run on just one hit with three strikeouts.
Gina Skinner entered for the fifth, getting three outs without allowing a hit or walk to close out the contest.
The 24 runs scored by the Nighthawks are the most in a game in program history, and ties the GNAC record set by Seattle University in 2007. The 25 hits and 24 RBIs are also both new NNU and GNAC records.
Next Up
NNU will play two more games at Simon Fraser on Saturday before heading to California next week for five non-conference contests at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock.
