Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
SELAH (Mar. 6) -- Sophomore Carrina Wagner (Tacoma/Spanaway Lake HS) homered in each game, and senior Lauren Hadenfeld (Vancouver/Evergreen HS) struck out seven and tossed a three-hit, five-inning shutout, as the Central Washington University softball team swept Montana State University Billings, 8-0 and 9-6, on Sunday afternoon at Carlon Park in Selah.
With Sunday's wins, the Wildcats took the four-game series, three games to one. CWU is now 5-4 overall and 3-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, while MSU Billings fell to 5-8 overall and 3-5 in the GNAC. The games were again played in Selah due to unplayable field conditions at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field on the CWU campus.
Wagner hit a three-run home run in her second at-bat of the opening game, and then provided the Wildcats with an insurance two-run blast in the sixth inning of game two in helping lead Central to the doubleheader sweep.
Hadenfeld (4-3) needed just 64 pitches in game one to defeat the Yellowjackets via the eight-run rule through five innings. She struck out seven without a walk, and surrendered three hits -- a single in the first inning and two singles in the third.
In game one, Central earned its first mercy-run rule victory of the season thanks to two big scoring innings. Wagner's three-run home run got the Wildcats on the scoreboard in the third, and a five-run fifth inning -- aided by three walks, a hit batter, and two MSU Billings errors -- capped the victory.
CWU managed just five hits in game one, but took advantage of the two aforementioned Yellowjacket miscues defensively as well as eight bases on balls by the MSUB pitching staff. Senior sluggers Samantha Petrich (Chehalis/W.F. West HS) and Kelsey Haupert (Olympia/Black Hills HS) were each walked three times and scored twice in the game, with neither being charged with an official at-bat. Junior Liz Jusko (Snohomish) had a walk-off, two-run pinch-hit single in the fifth inning, with sophomore Elena Carter (Olympia/Black Hills HS), junior Jennifer Schwartz (Spokane/Shadle Park HS), and senior Keilani Cruz (Tacoma/Curtis HS) also collecting hits.
Rose Harrington had two of the three hits for MSU Billings against Hadenfeld in the opener.
In game two, neither team took control of the game until a five-run bottom of the sixth inning by Central broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Wildcats a 9-6 victory.
CWU scored twice in the first inning -- once on an infield error and once on a designed double steal rundown play that was misplayed by MSU Billings that allowed Petrich to score from third. The game remained a 2-0 count until the top of the fourth inning, when the Yellowjackets' Tarn Potter, who played for Central Washington during the 2008 season, delivered a pinch-hit two-run single to tie the game at 2-2. The Wildcats bounced back in the bottom of the inning, however, as Jusko delivered a two-run blast to left field.
Montana State Billings tied the game again in the top of the sixth, as Harrington, the Yellowjackets' leadoff hitter, belted a two-run home run to center field.
True to form, however, Central Washington countered in the bottom of the inning, again with some help from the MSU Billings defense. Jusko led off with a single, and consecutive sacrifice bunts -- the first of which allowed Schwartz to reach safely after the throw was mishandled at first base -- put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out. After a strike out, Petrich was walked for the seventh time in as many plate appearances in the doubleheader to load the bases. Haupert then lifted a deep fly ball to right field, which Harrington dropped, allowing all three runners to score. Wagner then scored Haupert with her third home run of the series -- and fourth of the season -- on a monster blast off the roof of the storage shed in left-center field.
MSU Billings closed the deficit in the top of the seventh after a one-out single by Kaycee Hoffman and a two-out, two-run home run by Kelly Parsons, but after an infield single by Becca Frank, CWU freshman pitcher Maria Gau (Woodinville) strick out pinch-hitter Angela Lingle to lock up her first career pitching victory (1-1).
Central was outhit by MSU Billings in the nightcap, 9-6, but converted four Yellowjacket errors into seven unearned runs. Carter and Jusko each had two-hit outings, while Cruz and Wagner also had hits in the contest.
Gau struck out seven and walked four while giving up all nine hits to the Yellowjackets. Parsons and Frank each had two hits from the seventh and eighth place positions in the lineup, respectively, for Montana State Billings.
Central Washington is not scheduled to play again until a four-game series at Western Oregon on Mar. 19-20. The Wildcats' next scheduled home games are Mar. 26-27 against Western Washington.
