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

NAMPA, Idaho (Feb. 18) -- The Central Washington University softball team scored eight runs in the top of the seventh inning of game two on Saturday, salvaging a doubleheader split with host Northwest Nazarene University at Halle Field on the NNU campus. After dropping the opener, 2-1, CWU won the nightcap, 11-9.

The Wildcats won three of four games in the weekend series, improving to 4-5 overall and 3-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Northwest Nazarene secured its first win of the season in the opener, and the Crusaders are now 1-7 overall (1-3 GNAC).

The feverish seventh-inning rally in the nightcap saw Central Washington send 13 hitters to the plate in order to overcome what had once been an 8-1 deficit. In the seventh, the Wildcats recorded six hits -- all singles -- while taking advantage of two fielder's choices on which no out was recorded. Junior ELENA CARTER (Olympia/Black Hills HS) delivered the eventual game-winning hit, a two-run single that broke a 9-9 tie with one out in the inning.

The Wildcats had a rough start to the nightcap -- and to the doubleheader overall -- as they allowed two runs each in the first and second innings of game two, and one more in the third, in digging a 5-0 deficit. CWU scored its first run when freshman pinch-runner SHELBY YASUDA (Woodinville) scored on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth, but the host Crusaders countered with three more runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a seven-run margin. Single runs in the fifth and sixth allowed Central Washington to chip away at the deficit, but it wasn't until after NNU went ahead 9-3 entering the final inning that the Wildcats rallied.

Central Washington used all five pitchers on its roster in the series finale, with junior Kim Kocik (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS) earning her first win as a Wildcat after throwing 2 2/3 innings and allowing just one run on four hits. Sophomore MARIA GAU (Woodinville) pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh to collect her first save of the season.

Senior BRE THOMAS (Vancouver/Columbia River HS) went 3 for 5 with two runs scored, a triple, and two RBI in the game, while seven other CWU players finished with one hit apiece.

Northwest Nazarene, which outhit CWU 13-10 in the nightcap, was led by a 3 for 3 performance from Baylee Jolliffe and a 3 for 4 effort from Arielle Chao. Elizabeth Beaty added a three-run pinch-hit home run.

In the opener, Gau (2-3) went the distance in the pitching circle, scattering seven hits, but her Wildcat teammates managed just one run on seven hits of their own as CWU saw a 14-game series win streak over the Crusaders snapped.

Northwest Nazarene scored single runs in the third and fifth innings before Central Washington could get on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. A one-out error allowed senior NATASHA WOOD (Graham/Graham-Kapowsin HS) to reach base, and after a single by senior LIZ JUSKO (Snohomish), sophomore JORDAN ZURFLUH (Adna) delivered a RBI double that scored Wood's pinch-runner, junior KYLEEN SWEEPE (North Bend/Mount Si HS). Fellow pinch-runner KRISTINA SHERRIFF (Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck HS) was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Zurfluh's hit, and CWU did not score again.

Seven different Wildcat players had one hit each in the opener, while Northwest Nazarene was keyed by a 3 for 3 outing from first baseman Chelsey Anderson.

Central Washington will now return home for a scheduled four-game series versus Western Oregon University next weekend, with doubleheaders slated for both Saturday (Feb. 25) and Sunday (Feb. 26).