Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)

ELLENSBURG (Mar. 1) -- Senior Ashley Fix (Puyallup) had a two-run single in game one, and the Central Washington University offense rattled the bats for 10 hits and nine runs in the second game as the Wildcats swept visiting Western Oregon, 3-1 and 9-1, in Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball action on Monday at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field.

The wins evened Central's overall season record to 3-3 and helped the Wildcats improve to 3-1 in GNAC play. Western Oregon fell to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the GNAC.

Fix's two-out single in the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie, driving home junior Kelsey Haupert (Olympia/Black Hills HS) and sophomore Molly Coppinger (Belfair/North Mason HS). Both players had advanced into scoring position on a passed ball, which set the stage for Fix to deliver her only hit of the contest.

Junior pitcher Lauren Hadenfeld (Vancouver/Evergreen HS) pitched her first complete game for the Wildcats, limiting Western Oregon to five hits while striking out eight. The only run she surrendered was a fifth-inning home run to Kendra George, which at the time cut Central's lead in half to 2-1. The Wildcats got that run back in the bottom of the frame, however, as senior Danielle Monson (Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck HS) greeted relief pitcher Kendra White with a triple to right field, and sophomore Jennifer Schwartz (Spokane/Shadle Park HS) followed with a first-pitch single up the middle to drive home Monson.

Monson, who lifted her season average to .500 with three hits in five at-bats in Monday's doubleheader, went 2 for 3 in the opener. Three other Wildcats -- Schwartz, Haupert, and Fix -- had one hit apiece. Five different Western Oregon players had one hit each in the opener.

In game two, Central scored in four of its six innings at bat and used a four-run second inning to cruise to the mercy rule-shortened victory in the bottom of the sixth. The Wildcats scored their first two runs of the game on bases-loaded walks, and Schwartz followed the latter of those two free passes with a two-run single through the left side of the drawn-in infield to make it a 4-0 lead.

The advantage was more than enough for sophomore Lindy Baxter (Lacey/River Ridge HS), who scattered five hits and did not allow an earned run. Western Oregon scored its lone tally in the top of the third after an errant throw on a failed pickoff attempt.

In addition to its four-run second, Central scored once in the third and twice each in the fourth and sixth. Their third-inning run came home on a wild pitch, while junior Samantha Petrich (Chehalis/W.F. West HS) blasted a two-run home run to account for the Wildcats' two runs in the fourth. CWU then ended the game by scoring a pair of runs on a two-out, bases-loaded error in the sixth.

Nine different Wildcats had hits in the series finale, with Schwartz collecting the only multi-hit game by going 2 for 3. She and Petrich each drove in two runs for CWU.

Western Oregon was led in the nightcap by Tyler Sutherland and Tierra-Lyn Cuba, who had two hits apiece. Sutherland scored the Wolves' only run of the contest.

Central Washington will continues its home stand, hosting Saint Martin's University in a four-game GNAC series next weekend on Saturday (Mar. 6) and Sunday (Mar. 7).