ELLESNBURG, Wash. (Mar. 22) – With wind gusts reaching 35 miles per hour , the Central Washington University softball team weathered the conditions to sweep Western Washington University 7-3 and 13-12 to bring its Great Northwest Athletic Conference record back to .500.
Due to the wind many "would be" routine outs dropped in for hits as the two teams combined for 50 hits in two over two games.
"We spend at least 10-15 minutes a day working on our triangle popups with our entire team," CWU Head Coach
Mike Larabee said. "It was definitely and advantage for us as we deal with the wind more often."
The Wildcats improve to 18-7 on the season and 6-6 in the GNAC. Western Washington falls to 12-14, 7-9 GNAC.
Kailyn Campbell went 6 for 9 in the contest for CWU, driving in three runs and scoring three times. The junior first baseman is now hitting .424 on the season.
"When Campbell takes the same swing that she has in the game into the game, this is the result," Larabee said of his first baseman. "When she is selectively aggressive she is capable of doing what she did today on a regular basis."
Freshman pitcher
Kayla Smith, fresh of a GNAC Pitcher of the Week selection, picked up the victories in both contests to improve to 4-0 on the season.
"I say it all starts in the circle and if you're excellent in the circle you put yourself in the best position to win," Larabee added. "It was a gutsy performance by Kayla today, she did excellent for us."
The Wildcats led from start to finish in game one scoring off a double by Campbell in the first inning before tacking on five runs in the second inning highlighted by a bases loaded double by
Andrea Hamada that cleared the bases.
Brielle Copodonna hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning that scored
Tammy Wilkening, giving CWU a 7-0 lead.
Central Washington took the 7-0 lead into the final inning, but the Vikings rattled off four consecutive hits including a two-run homerun by Taylor Clark. That is all the damage the Vikings could muster in game one, ending in the 7-3 victory for the Wildcats.
Western Washington flipped the script in game two scoring seven runs in the first inning on five hits and two CWU errors.
As they have all season, the Wildcats fought their way back into the game, putting up four runs in the second inning on back-to-back doubles by Campbell and Copodonna and a two run homerun by
Michaela Hazlett to cut the WWU advantage to 7-4.
Down 8-4 in the fifth inning, the Wildcats added six runs off six hits to take a 10-8 lead. Campbell go the scoring started with a RBI single and Copodonna and
Sammy Morris followed by driving in a run of their own. The big inning was capped by a run scoring single by Celine fowler that scored pinch runner
Rachael Johnson from second base.
Western Washington tied the game up in the top of the sixth, but CWU responded with two runs of its own on an error by the Vikings and a RBI single by
Alexa Olague.
Once again the resilient Vikings tied the score up in the top of the seventh inning on a two run homerun by Emily Benson.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning,
Austin Wilkerson singles through the left side to keep the inning alive. Campbell then took a 0-0 offering and hit a hard line drive that was mishandled by WWU centerfielder Arianna Barrio, allowing Wilkerson to score from first, ending the game as the Wildcats escaped with a 13-12 win.
"Our girls have really big hearts," Larabee said in response to his team's ability to play from behind. "Every game that we have lost this year we have brought the winning or go-ahead run to the plate, there is absolutely no quit in this team. We got down seven, and as a coaching staff, we told them to keep chipping away and they did exactly that."
Wilkerson went 2 for 5 in game two, but was held hitless in game one, ending her 25-game hitting streak. She did however earn a walk in the first game and now owns a 27 game on base streak.
The Wildcats will next travel to Oregon to face Western Oregon and Concordia on Mar. 25 and Mar. 26, respectively.
