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

BILLINGS, Mont. (Apr. 28) -- Senior Kelsey Haupert (Olympia/Black Hills HS) homered once in each game, but the Central Washington University softball team saw its 15-game winning streak snapped with a pair of last-at-bat losses on Thursday, falling 3-1 and 9-8 to host Montana State University Billings at Cenex Stadium.

The Wildcats, ranked eighth in the NCAA Division II West Region, fell to 25-13 overall and 19-7 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Montana State Billings, meanwhile, kept its GNAC title hopes alive by improving to 26-20 overall and 21-13 in conference action.

Haupert's solo home run in the sixth inning of game one, which was Central's school-record-breaking 51st of the season, broke up a no-hit bid by the Yellowjackets' Amanda Todd. It was the first of just two hits for the Wildcats in the game,  as junior Liz Jusko (Snohomish) singled two batters later. CWU, which entered the game hitting .318, tied a season-low with just the two hits.

Senior Lauren Hadenfeld (Vancouver/Evergreen HS), the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II National Pitcher of the Week this week, surrendered a first-inning run but kept the Yellowjackets off the scoreboard the rest of the way until two out in the seventh. In the decisive inning, Hadenfeld retired the first two hitters before former Wildcat Tarn Potter singled, and Jenna VanEykeren then ended the game with a two-run walk-off home run.

Hadenfeld struck out just three and scattered eight hits while seeing her personal 11-game win streak snapped. Her counterpart in the pitching circle, Todd, struck out 11 Wildcat hitters but walked six.

In the nightcap, Central led 6-2 after 2 1/2 innings and scored at least one in each of the first five innings, but the Wildcats were held scoreless over the final three frames. MSU Billings tied the game on three different occasions -- 2-2 in the first, 7-7 in the fourth, and 8-8 in the fifth -- before scoring the winning run, again off Hadenfeld with two out in the final inning.

Each team used the long ball to its advantage in the series finale, as the Wildcats left the yard four times with one each from Haupert, senior Samantha Petrich (Chehalis/W.F. West HS), and sophomores Carrina Wagner (Tacoma/Spanaway Lake HS) and Elena Carter (Olympia/Black Hills HS). MSU Billings hit three homers as part of its 18-hit attack, as Bobbie Lee, Nicole Colpron, and Meg Harasymczuk each left the yard.

Hadenfeld (18-8) again took the loss despite 4 1/3 innings of relief work. She allowed seven hits and the Yellowjackets' final three runs, striking out four.

Kasie Conder (8-6) fanned six Wildcats in seven innings of relief for Montana State Billings, which earned a split of the six-game season series with its doubleheader sweep on Thursday.

Central Washington will now return home for the remainder of the 2011 regular season. The Wildcats have nine games scheduled over a seven-day period next week, beginning with a doubleheader on Sunday (May 1) against Saint Martin's University at 1 p.m. That twinbill will also be Central's annual ALS Fundraiser at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field.