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ELLENSBURG (Mar. 30) -- Junior Maria Gau (Woodinville) threw a four-hit shutout, and freshman Remy Bradley (Richland/Hanford HS) had three hits in as many at-bats in game one as the Central Washington University softball team defeated Simon Fraser University, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field. SFU won the nightcap, 6-0.

The Wildcats' split enabled them to keep pace with Great Northwest Athletic Conference-leading Simon Fraser, as CWU is now 12-11 overall and 10-6 in conference action. The Clan is 16-14 overall and 11-4 in league games.

GAME ONE: CWU 2, Simon Fraser 0
Gau earned her fifth straight pitching victory, scattering four hits and striking out five, and the Wildcats scored runs in the first and sixth innings to take the 2-0 win.

The junior right-hander allowed singles in the second, third, sixth, and seventh innings but escaped without allowing a run to even her record at 6-6 on the season. She dodged a one-out, bases-loaded bullet in the top of the seventh inning.

Bradley scored the game's first run after reaching safely on a leadoff bunt and throwing error. She scored two batters later on an infield groundout by senior Cassi Ellis (East Wenatchee/Eastmont HS) for a 1-0 lead. That score remained until the sixth, when CWU manufactured its second run. Sophomore Shelby Yasuda (Woodinville) reached on a leadoff walk, advanced to second on Bradley's infield single, and to third on a bunt single by freshman Michaela Hazlett (Purcell, Okla.). Ellis then made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to left.

The Wildcats' four hits in the game all came from the top two hitters of the lineup as Bradley was 3 for 3 and Hazlett went 1 for 2.

GAME TWO: Simon Fraser 6, CWU 0
Simon Fraser scored two runs each in the first, third, and fourth innings against CWU sophomore Heidy Wells (Tacoma/Stadium HS), and Kelsie Hawkins threw a four-hit shutout as the Clan claimed a 6-0 win to clinch the season series.

SFU had six of its eight hits in the first three innings, tallying two unearned runs in the first inning. The Clan stranded two runners on base in the second before piecing together three hits and a CWU error in the third to extend the lead to 4-0. The game's final two runs came in the fourth on a wild pitch and an infield error.

CWU was unable to do much offensively against Hawkins, who finished with six strikeouts and improved to 9-4 on the season. Four different hitters -- Hazlett, Ellis, junior Maikala Galusha (Battle Ground), and freshman Andrea Hamada (Walla Walla) -- had hits, but all were singles.

Carly Lepoutre and Trisha Bouchard had two hits each for SFU, which finished with an 8-4 edge in the hit department in the series finale.

CWU, which owns a 10-2 home record and has won 12 of its last 15 following a 0-8 start, will now head on the road for most of the remainder of the season. The Wildcats have just one home doubleheader remaining -- Apr. 20 versus Montana State University Billings. Their next scheduled contests are at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock, Calif., next weekend.