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NAMPA, Idaho (Apr. 13) -- Junior Maikala Galusha (Battle Ground) combined to finish 6 for 8 with five runs batted in, and junior pitcher Maria Gau (Woodinville) had a career-high 12 strikeouts in game one as the Central Washington University softball team swept Northwest Nazarene University, 3-2 and 7-2, on Saturday afternoon at Halle Field on the NNU campus.

The Wildcats completed a season sweep of the Crusaders, improving to 18-13 overall and 12-6 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. NNU fell to 5-35 and 0-20 in the conference.

GAME ONE: CWU 3, Northwest Nazarene 2
Galusha singled in all four of her plate appearances, driving in a pair of runs, as the Wildcats outhit the Crusaders 10-3 in their one-run victory.

Galusha had a two-run single in the first, then followed with hits in the third, fifth, and seventh innings.

Gau struck out a career-high 12 hitters -- one more than her previous best. She walked five, however, while scattering the three hits.

Freshman Rachel O'Neill (Kirkland/Juanita HS) provided CWU with the eventual winning run in the top of the sixth, delivering a pinch-hit RBI double to left field that scored fellow freshman Andrea Hamada (Walla Walla) from second base.

Northwest Nazarene scored single runs in the second and seventh innings, picking up its first run on a solo home run by Brianna Kinghorn. That was the only hit the Crusaders had until the final inning, when they pieced together a pair of hits and had the potential tying run on third base when Bailey Jolliffe lined out to end the game.

Hamada and freshman Remy Bradley (Richland/Hanford HS) both went 2 for 4 to complement Galusha's four-hit game for the Wildcats.

GAME TWO: CWU 7, Northwest Nazarene 2
Galusha's fifth home run of the season -- a two-run blast -- broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth inning and started a four-run rally as the Wildcats completed the sweep with a 7-2 victory.

The round-tripper came after junior Jill McDaniels (Walla Walla) had led off with a single up the middle. Those hits were part of a five-hit inning that was aided by two Northwest Nazarene errors, and the final two runs that scored were unearned as a result. CWU tacked on yet another unearned run in the seventh for the final five-run cushion.

As they had done in the opener, CWU scored twice in the top of the first inning. Run-scoring hits by McDaniels and Galusha got the Wildcats on the scoreboard, and sophomore pitcher Heidy Wells (Tacoma/Stadium HS) took that 2-0 lead into the fourth inning when NNU scored its two runs. RBI singles by Kira Varady and Kayla Fadenrecht -- both of which came following the Wildcats' lone error of the game -- allowed the Crusaders to tie the score with a pair of unearned tallies.

CWU added 12 more hits in the nightcap. McDaniels went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, while senior Elena Carter (Olympia/Black Hills HS) also had a three-hit game in four at-bats. Galusha went 2 for 4 with three RBI and the game's lone extra-base hit.

Wells struck out six over six innings of work, improving her record to 8-3 on the season.

Catcher Michelle Crumbaker had two hits to lead Northwest Nazarene, which has lost 29 consecutive games.

CWU returns home for its final home games of the 2013 season, facing Montana State University Billings next Saturday (Apr. 20) at noon. The Wildcats are currently in third place in the GNAC standings, one game behind Saint Martin's University.