Box Score vs. Hawaii Hilo
Box Score vs. Cal State Monterey Bay

KANEOHE, Hawaii (May 15) -- Junior pitcher Lauren Hadenfeld (Vancouver/Evergreen HS) pitched 15 innings and did not allow an earned run as the Central Washington University softball team earned two victories in elimination-game wins at the 2010 NCAA Division II West Region Tournament at Howard A. Okita Field in Kaneohe, Hawaii. The Wildcats defeated Hawaii Hilo, 2-1 in eight innings, before beating Cal State Monterey Bay, 2-0, eliminating both the Vulcans and the Otters in the process.

Central improved to 39-14 on the season with the two victories, and the Wildcats will now face top-seeded Hawaii Pacific (43-6) in the tournament championship round on Sunday. CWU and HPU will play at 11 a.m. Hawaiian Standard Time (2 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time) in another must-win game for the Wildcats. Should Central win the first game, a second championship game would follow at 1:30 p.m. HST (4:30 p.m. PDT).

With the season on the line, Hadenfeld (23-5) went the distance in the pitching circle for the Wildcats in both games on Saturday. She threw just 96 pitches in the opening game against UH Hilo, striking out four and surrendering just an unearned run in the first inning against the Vulcans while scattering six hits. She then threw a complete-game shutout against Cal State Monterey Bay with eight strikeouts and allowing just three singles.

In the opener against UH Hilo, each team scored an unearned run early in the game as the two teams were both a bit sloppy defensively in the first two innings. Central committed two infield errors in the first inning as the Vulcans took an early 1-0 lead, but the Wildcats returned the favor one inning later as sophomore Michelle Torre (Kent/Liberty HS) reached on a two-out error. After a passed ball advanced her to second base, she came home to score on Jennifer Schwartz's (Spokane/Shadle Park HS) single to tie the game at 1-1.

Neither team would score again until the bottom of the eighth inning, although both had opportunities to score before Central eventually claimed the victory in that inning. The Wildcats had two runners on base with nobody out in the seventh, but an unconventional double play in a sacrifice bunt situation helped put an early end to a potential game-winning rally. UH Hilo appeared to have taken the lead in the top of the eighth inning as Tessa Truong reached on a one-out triple, and she tagged up on Aisha Sueda's fly out to left field, appearing to score. However, Central appealed the tag-up and Truong was ruled to have left early, preserving the 1-1 tie entering the bottom of the frame.

In the bottom of the eighth, junior Samantha Petrich (Chehalis/W.F. West HS) led off with a double and Kelsey Haupert (Olympia/Black Hills HS) reached on a walk, and both were advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice by senior Ashley Fix (Puyallup). From there, sophomore catcher Meghan Kopczynski (Ellensburg) delivered a single through the left side of the infield to score Petrich and give the Wildcats the victory, ending UH Hilo's season in the process.

Central had a 7-6 hits advantage, with two hits apiece from Kopczynski and Schwartz. The Wildcats also had one hit each from Petrich, Torre, and redshirt freshman Kyleen Sweepe (North Bend/Mount Si HS), who replaced injured senior Danielle Monson (Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck HS) after Monson saw her career come to an end after being hit on the forearm by a pitch in the third inning against the Vulcans.

In their second elimination game of the day against Cal State Monterey Bay, Hadenfeld dominated the Otters for the second time this season and Haupert went 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles and a two-run single in the fifth inning as the Wildcats blanked CSUMB, 2-0.

Hadenfeld needed just 89 pitches in the win over the Otters, and finished the year with 22 strikeouts and just four hits allowed in 14 innings pitched (two meetings) against CSUMB.

Offensively, Central managed just five hits including the three from Haupert. The junior third baseman doubled in both the second and fourth innings but was stranded in scoring position both times before she delivered a clutch two-run single in the fifth as part of an inning in which the Wildcats took advantage of three CSUMB errors.

Schwartz and freshman Carrina Wagner (Tacoma/Spanaway Lake HS) also had hits for the Wildcats against the Otters.