Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Apr. 21) -- Senior BRE THOMAS (Vancouver/Columbia River HS) had seven hits in eight at-bats, and sophomore MARIA GAU (Woodinville) earned the pitching victory in both games of Central Washington University's softball doubleheader sweep of visiting Montana State University Billings on Saturday at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field. The Wildcats won the opener, 12-11, and the nightcap, 5-1.

CWU (16-26, 12-18) ended up splitting its season series with conference-leading MSUB (31-13, 24-8 GNAC) with its two victories on Saturday.

Thomas, who was one of eight senior student-athletes recognized in between games of Saturday's doubleheader, went 3 for 4 in the first game and 4 for 4 with two doubles in the second game as she raised her season batting average 33 points to .348. She teamed with second-place hitter JEN SCHWARTZ (Spokane/Shadle Park HS), a fellow senior outfielder, to collect 12 hits in 14 at-bats between the two hitters on the day.

Central Washington's offense was firing on all cylinders in the doubleheader, rapping out 28 hits in the two games combined. The Wildcats had two big innings -- a three-run first and a five-run third -- in the opener as they built an 8-2 lead, but Montana State Billings tied the game with a six-run top of the fourth. The two teams then matched each other run-for-run through the top of the seventh, when the Yellowjackets rallied from an 11-10 deficit against Gau, who came in to close the game. However, consecutive singles followed by a wild pitch and passed ball plated the game-tying run, but Gau escaped with three straight outs following a four-pitch walk to Bobbie Lee.

In the bottom of the seventh, junior ELENA CARTER (Olympia/Black Hills HS) delivered a pinch-hit single to start the inning, and Carter followed with a hit of her own. Schwartz, the CWU career leader in sacrifice bunts, then advanced the pair of runners with a bunt and senior CARRINA WAGNER (Tacoma/Spanaway Lake HS) lofted a fly ball to center field that scored freshman KATIE FOCHER (Missoula, Mont./Sentinel HS) with the winning run. The sacrifice fly was the second of the game for Wagner, who finished with three RBI in the contest.

While Thomas and Schwartz were catalysts at the top of the lineup, the rest of the CWU batting order delivered in the game with multi-hit outings from seniors NATASHA WOOD (Graham/Graham-Kapowsin HS) and MOLLY COPPINGER (Belfair/North Mason HS) and junior CASSI ELLIS (East Wenatchee/Eastmont HS). Wood was 2 for 3 with her second career home run, while Coppinger and Ellis both went 3 for 4 in the game.

Montana State Billings finished with 15 hits against three CWU pitchers, as Tanya Eckles and Nicole Colpron had three hits each. Colpron drove in four runs, including three on a fourth-inning home run.

In the nightcap, Gau took a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning, but four singles, including three in a row to start the inning, spoiled the Wildcats' bid for their first shutout of the season. Nonetheless, Gau (9-16), who was the benefactor of the game-winning sacrifice fly in the opener to earn the decision in that contest, finished with six strikeouts over seven innings.

Central Washington gave the sophomore right-hander plenty of support, scoring twice each in the third and fifth innings and once more in the sixth. Thomas' leadoff double and steal of third base jumpstarted the Wildcats' two-run third, as she scored on a single by Schwartz. Senior KRISTINA SHERRIFF (Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck HS) had a RBI single in the two-run fifth, and CWU made it a 4-0 score later that inning on a designed double-steal play on which Sherriff was retired in a run-down between first and second for the final out. The Wildcats' final run scored in the sixth on a squeeze bunt by Wagner.

Seven of the Wildcats' 11 hits in the nightcap came from the duo of Thomas and Schwartz, while four others had one hit apiece.

Central Washington will return to the road on Sunday for a doubleheader against Saint Martin's University beginning at 1 p.m. The Wildcats will actually have one more home doubleheader -- a mid-week twinbill on Thursday (Apr. 26) against Northwest Nazarene University.