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BILLINGS, Mont. (Mar. 21) -- Junior Jill McDaniels (Walla Walla) homered in her fourth consecutive game, and senior Cassi Ellis (East Wenatchee/Eastmont HS) went 3 for 4 with four RBI as the Central Washington University softball team defeated Montana State University Billings, 11-2, in six innings in game one of their doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at Bjorgum Field. MSUB won the second game, 13-5, in five innings.

CWU, which saw its four-game win streak snapped in the nightcap, is now 7-10 overall and 5-5 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. MSUB is 5-13 overall and 4-7 in the conference.

GAME ONE: CWU 11, MSU Billings 2
McDaniels, the reigning GNAC Red Lion Hitter of the Week who has five home runs over a four-game span, hit a two-run home run as a part of the Wildcats' seven-run sixth inning in the opener. Ellis had driven in three runs with a bases-clearing double just one batter prior to McDaniels' blast, with the two hits turning a 5-2 lead into a 10-2 cushion. Senior Elena Carter (Olympia/Black Hills HS) then followed with a solo home run two batters later.

CWU overcame an early 1-0 deficit with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Run-scoring singles by freshman Michaela Hazlett (Purcell, Okla.) and Ellis scored the first two runs, and freshman shortstop Andrea Hamada (Walla Walla) then capped the scoring in the inning with a two-run single.

Aubrey Conceicao, who scored both runs for Montana State Billings in the opener, hit a solo home run to start the bottom of the fifth inning that trimmed the CWU lead to two.

Junior pitcher Maria Gau (Woodinville) earned her third win in the last four decisions after scattering seven hits over six innings. She walked three and struck out three to improve to 3-6 on the season.

In addition to Ellis' three-hit outing, McDaniels, junior Maikala Galusha (Battle Ground), and freshman Remy Bradley (Richland/Hanford HS) added two hits apiece as the Wildcats finished with 13 hits. Brittney Sanders and Caryn Perrigo had two hits each for MSUB.

GAME TWO: MSU Billings 13, CWU 5
The host Yellowjackets scored six runs in the first inning, then added three more in the third and four in the fourth to defeat the Wildcats, 13-5, in five innings.

CWU scored in four of its five innings at the plate, tallying one run each in the first, third, and fourth innings. Back-to-back solo home runs by Galusha and freshman Alexa Olague (Tacoma/Woodrow Wilson HS) accounted for the Wildcats' scoring in the fifth.

Sophomore Shelby Yasuda (Woodinville) scored the game's first run in the opening inning on a passed ball, while Hazlett added a solo homer for the Wildcats in the top of the third. Ellis had a RBI single in the fourth as well.

The Wildcats finished with 10 hits in the five-inning game, but three pitchers combined to allow 14 hits to MSU Billings. Four of those were home runs for the Yellowjackets, including two by Katie Schermele, who was 3 for 3 with four RBI in the game. Nicole Wilkerson also drove in four for MSUB.

Olague (3 for 3), Ellis, Galusha, and Bradley (all 2 for 3) combined for nine of the Wildcats' hits.

CWU will play its next six games at home at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field, beginning with a Monday doubleheader against Northwest Nazarene University at 1 p.m.