ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene softball took both ends of the doubleheader at Central Washington on Friday, edging out the Wildcats 4-2 in game one before running away with an 8-0 victory in game two.
The Nighthawks improve to 24-14 on the season and 12-2 in GNAC play, holding steady on top of the conference standings with three weekends left in the regular season.
Game 1
NNU struck first in the top of the third, kicked off by a
Jami Obringer leadoff single and steal of second base to put a runner in scoring position with no outs. Two outs later, with Obringer on third and
Maia McNicoll on first after a walk, McNicoll took off for second and got caught in a rundown, but allowed Obringer to score before she was tagged out.
Central tied things up in the bottom of the inning, but the Nighthawks responded with two runs on one swing in the top of the fourth when
Madison Felter knocked a two-run homer that scored
Sidney Booth.
NNU would score for the third-straight frame in the fifth, as
Tori Hensley launched a solo home run to put the Nighthawks up 4-1. CWU got one back in the bottom of the inning, but that was as close as the Wildcats would come, with Booth retiring the side in order in the seventh to finalize the win.
Booth earned the complete-game victory with just five hits and one earned run allowed while striking out nine. Obringer, Hensley, and Felter all had two hits for the Nighthawks.
Game 2
NNU struck first in the top of the third again in the nightcap, with McNicoll driving home
Clarissa Moreno with an RBI single.
The fourth inning saw the Nighthawks break the game wide open, as they scored six runs on just two hits. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with one out, followed by back-to-back-to-back RBI walks from Obringer, Moreno, and Hensley. McNicoll then added two more RBIs with a double, and the final run of the frame came when Hensley scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-0.
Felter added her second homer of the day in the fifth, extending NNU's lead to 8-0.
That homer would enforce the run rule half an inning later, as Hensley shut down the Wildcats in order in the bottom of the fifth to finish the game.
Hensley allowed just three hits across the five frames with five strikeouts, facing the minimum twice. McNicoll was 2-3 with three RBIs while Hensley and Felter also notched a pair of hits.
Next Up
NNU has two more games against the Wildcats tomorrow, with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. Pacific. After that, it's the final homestand for the Nighthawks as they host Saint Martin's on April 21 and 22.
