Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
HTML Box Scores: Game 1 / Game 2

ELLENSBURG (Apr. 20) -- Freshman Andrea Hamada (Walla Walla) went 3 for 3 with two runs batted in, and sophomore pitcher Heidy Wells (Tacoma/Stadium HS) picked up her ninth win of the season against just three defeats as the Central Washington University softball team salvaged a split of its home doubleheader against Montana State University Billings on Senior Day at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field on Saturday. The Wildcats took the nightcap, 8-0 in five innings, after losing the opener, 4-0.

CWU is now 19-14 overall and 13-7 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, and the Wildcats will play their final four regular-season games on the road next weekend. MSU Billings is now 10-26 overall and 8-11 in GNAC play following Saturday's split.

GAME ONE: MSU Billings 4, CWU 0
Junior pitcher Maria Gau (Woodinville) struck out five and walked just two, but CWU was unable to get much offensive support on her behalf in falling to MSUB, 4-0.

The Yellowjackets scored once in the third, twice in the sixth, and once in the seventh for the win. Meanwhile, CWU managed just three hits and committed three errors behind Gau, who fell to 8-9 on the season despite a team-best earned-run average of 2.04.

All three Wildcat hits belonged to freshman outfielders, as Remy Bradley (Richland/Hanford HS) and Michaela Hazlett (Purcell, Okla.) were both 1 for 3 and pinch hitter Rachel O'Neill (Kirkland/Juanita HS) -- who started game two in left field -- had a single in the bottom of the sixth.

Jessyka MacDonald struck out six while posting the shutout for MSUB. The Yellowjackets were led by two-hit games from Aubrey Conceicao and Emily Osborn.

GAME TWO: CWU 8, MSU Billings 0 (5 innings)
Hamada had her first career three-hit game, providing singles in the second, third, and fourth innings, and the Wildcats earned a five-inning, mercy-rule victory in their 2013 home finale.

Senior Kimberly Kocik (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS), pinch hitting for junior second baseman Jill McDaniels (Walla Walla), ended the game with her first career hit -- a RBI single that scored Bradley with the game's eighth run.

CWU scored in every inning except the first, providing Wells with plenty of offensive help. The Wildcats scored once in the second, twice in the third, and four times in the fourth before the walkoff run with nobody out in the fifth.

Wells improved to 9-3 on the season after tossing a four-hit shutout at the Yellowjackets. The only inning in which she retired the side in order was the fifth, but she did not allow a runner past second base in the victory.

Offensively, the tandem of Hamada and Bradley combined for five hits in seven at-bats. Senior Cassi Ellis (East Wenatchee/Eastmont HS) doubled and scored twice in her final collegiate home game, also driving in a run, while the Wildcats' third and final senior, Elena Carter (Olympia/Black Hills HS), also had a single and a RBI in her last home game.

CWU enters the final week of the season just one game out of first place in the GNAC standings, trailing Saint Martin's University (13-5 GNAC) in the standings. The Wildcats visit the Saints to close the regular season next Sunday (Apr. 28), with a Saturday (Apr. 27) doubleheader at Western Oregon University also remaining on the ledger.