ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Mar. 12) – The Central Washington University softball team lost both games of its doubleheader with Simon Fraser Saturday afternoon by a combined two runs.  The Wildcats came from behind in both contests to pull within one run but were unable to take a lead, falling 9-10 and 6-7.
 
The Wildcats now stand with a 14-5 record and a 2-4 mark in Great Northwest Athletic Conference games.  The Clan improve to 16-11, 7-3 in the GNAC.
 
Celine Fowler totaled five hits on the day and reached base seven times improving her batting average from .360 to .411.  Andrea Hamada added her first homerun of the season in game two and Kailyn Campbell and Austin Wilkerson also hit homeruns on the day, their fourth and fifth, respectively.
 
After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning of game one, the Wildcats rallied to put up four runs in the bottom half of the inning on a RBI double by Campbell and a run scoring single by Olague.  Central Washington also scored two unearned run, taking advantage of two SFU errors in the frame.
 
Simon Fraser responded with five runs in the top of the second inning, collecting five hits in the process.
 
Starting pitcher Kiana Wood had her shortest outing of the season, throwing just two innings, giving up eight runs.
 
Down 8-3, CWU clawed back scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth on a bases loaded walk that plated Rachael Johnson and a sacrifice fly by Michaela Hazlett that scored Alexa Olague.
 
Simon Fraser against answered back with two runs in the top of the sixth on a homerun by Alex Baylak to take a 10-7 lead.  Wilkerson hit a two run homerun in the bottom of the sixth to pull the Wildcats to within one run, but CWU went down in order in the seventh as SFU claimed a 10-9 victory in game one.
 
Simon Fraser jumped out to a 6-0 lead in game two, taking advantage of four errors by the Wildcats in the first two innings. 
 
Down 7-0, the Wildcats got the first two batters of the fourth inning on safely before Hamada smashed a full count offering over the left field wall to cut the SFU lead to 7-3.  Campbell added a solo shot in the fifth inning and CWU added two in the sixth to cut pull to within one run.  Central Washington's rally fell short, again going down in order in the seventh inning, securing the SFU sweep.
 
Freshman pitcher Kayla Smith threw 5.2 innings of relief for the Wildcats, giving up just one run on five hits.  Smith now sits with a 0.91 earned run average on the season.
 
The Wildcats will look to get back on track when they host Western Washington University, tomorrow, Mar. 13 starting at noon.