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ELLENSBURG (Mar. 16) -- Three players finished with two hits each, and freshman Andrea Hamada (Walla Walla) drove in four runs, as the Central Washington University softball team earned a split with visiting Saint Martin's University on Saturday afternoon at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field. The Wildcats won the nightcap, 7-3, after falling in the opener by a 2-1 score.

CWU is now 4-9 overall and 2-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The Wildcats will host Western Oregon University in a GNAC twinbill on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Saint Martin's is 14-8 overall and 5-3 in the conference.

GAME ONE: Saint Martin's 2, CWU 1
Three CWU errors proved costly in a pitcher's duel between the Wildcats' Maria Gau (Jr., Woodinville) and Saint Martin's Sam Munger as the Saints won 2-1.

The Wildcats scored the game's first run in the opening inning after piecing together three singles including a run-scoring hit by junior Jill McDaniels (Walla Walla). That lead lasted until the third, when SMU got consecutive base runners to start the inning -- the first of which reached on an error -- and the Saints pushed the tying run across on a single by Joslyn Eugenio.

Each team had a baserunner in the fifth, but the game-winning run didn't score until the sixth when Saint Martin's once again took advantage of a leadoff error. Taviah Jenkins then scored Eugenio with a one-out infield single to give the Saints the lead, as CWU was unable to get a runner past first base in the final two innings.

Gau struck out five and walked just one but fell to 1-6 on the season. Munger matched Gau with 5 Ks for the Saints, improving to 6-4 on the year, while Jenkins (2 for 3) was the lone player on either team with more than one hit as the two schools combined for just nine hits in the contest.

GAME TWO: CWU 7, Saint Martin's 3
Hamada's two-run single in the bottom of the third inning broke a 2-2 tie, and the Wildcats tacked on three insurance runs in the fifth to earn a split of the doubleheader with a 7-3 victory.

Hamada also had a two-run single in the fifth inning that turned the Wildcats' 4-2 advantage into a 6-2 cushion. Junior Maikala Galusha (Battle Ground) then provided CWU with its final run in the form of a sacrifice fly.

Saint Martin's scored once each in the first and second innings, with those runs sandwiched around a two-run bottom of the first for CWU. The Wildcats' McDaniels hit her third home run of the season to give the hosts an early 2-1 lead. Jenkins then tied the score on the third pitch of the second inning with a solo home run for SMU.

The Wildcats outhit Saint Martin's by a 10-5 count, thanks to two hits each from Hamada, McDaniels, and senior Cassi Ellis (East Wenatchee/Eastmont HS). Ellis scored three runs, and six of the seven RBI came from Walla Walla natives McDaniels and Hamada, providing sophomore pitcher Heidy Wells (Tacoma/Stadium HS) with plenty of support in the circle. Wells, who improved to 3-1 on the season, scattered five hits and went the distance for CWU.

Five players had one hit each for Saint Martin's in the nightcap.