Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
BURNABY, B.C. (Apr. 21) -- The Central Washington University offense exploded for 23 runs in two games, including eight insurance tallies in the top of the seventh inning of game one, as the Wildcat softball team swept host Simon Fraser University, 15-6 and 8-6, on Thursday afternoon at Beedie Field.
The wins extended Central's winning streak to a school-record-tying 13 games, matching the record set at the end of the 2010 regular season. They also propelled the Wildcats (23-11, 17-5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) into a percentage-points lead over Western Washington University (30-9, 18-6 GNAC) atop the conference standings. CWU and WWU play each other on Friday in Bellingham.
The Wildcats' offense, which has scored at least six runs in 12 of the 13 games of the current win streak including at least eight in each of the last eight games, turned a 7-6 seventh-inning lead into a 15-6 win in the opener thanks to four hits and four Simon Fraser errors in the top of the seventh. Senior Keilani Cruz (Tacoma/Curtis HS) delivered the biggest blow with a two-run single in the inning, although sophomore Carrina Wagner (Tacoma/Spanaway Lake HS) drove in one with a RBI double in the frame, and runs were also driven home by senior Samantha Petrich (Chehalis/W.F. West HS) and junior Liz Jusko (Snohomish) in the inning.
The home run ball was also a prevalent part of the CWU offense on Thursday, as the Wildcats blasted four round-trippers in the opener. Senior Kelsey Haupert (Olympia/Black Hills HS) had a solo shot in the first, while Petrich and Wagner had solo and three-run blasts, respectively, in the third. Junior Molly Coppinger (Belfair/North Mason HS) led off the top of the sixth inning with a go-ahead homer, and CWU then tacked on its insurance runs in the seventh.
Senior Lauren Hadenfeld (Vancouver/Evergreen HS) won her ninth straight decision (16-6 overall) with a complete-game effort, striking out seven and allowing just four earned runs.
Offensively, Cruz and Wagner had three hits apiece, while Petrich and Coppinger added two hits each. All eight of Simon Fraser's hits came from the top five hitters in its lineup, including three from leadoff hitter Rosie Murphy. Brittany Mayers drove in three with two hits for the Clan (8-17-1, 8-13-1 GNAC).
In game two, CWU scored two runs each in the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth, and the Wildcat pitching duo of junior Lindy Baxter (Lacey/River Ridge HS) and freshman Maria Gau (Woodinville) combined to allow just two earned runs in completing the doubleheader sweep.
Run-scoring singles by Cruz and Wagner got the Wildcats on the board in the first inning, and CWU never trailed. Simon Fraser scored once in the second to make it 2-1, and after the Wildcats scored twice in the fourth on a two-run double by Cruz, SFU scored again in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-2.
A two-run double was the big blow in the top of the fifth for CWU, this time by junior Bre Thomas (Vancouver/Columbia River HS), and they were runs the Wildcats would need to maintain the lead as the host Clan scored three times in the bottom of the frame. However, after SFU closed to within one run at 6-5, Gau entered with two out and closed the door, allowing just an unearned run in the seventh to earn her first save of the season.
Central finished its scoring in the top of the sixth, as Petrich homered to lead off the inning, and Cruz scored three batters later after reaching on her third double of the day (and second of the game).
Cruz totaled three more hits and three RBI in game two to wrap up a 6 for 8 day at the plate, while Petrich went 2 for 3 with three runs scored in the nightcap to lift her conference-leading batting average to .476 while reaching base in seven of her 10 plate appearances in the doubleheader.
Nine of the Wildcats' 11 hits in game two came from four players -- Thomas (2 for 5), Petrich (2 for 3), Cruz (3 for 4), and Wagner (2 for 4).
CWU, which has 10 of its final 14 remaining regular-season games at home, will play one of its two away doubleheaders on Friday against Western Washington. The Wildcats will then return home to Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field for the first of two make-up home doubleheaders against Simon Fraser on Monday (Apr. 25) at 1 p.m.
