ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Apr. 8) – The Central Washington University softball team needed just 10 innings to sweep the day one doubleheader against Montana State Billings, winning both contests 8-0 in five innings.
 
With the wins CWU improves to 27-10 on the season and 11-7 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  The Yellowjackets fall to 10-26, 2-12 in the GNAC.
 
"Going down to California and playing in the Tournament of Champions really helped our ball club today,".  CWU Head Coach Mike Larabee said.  "We saw four NCAA West Regional caliber pitchers down there and that was a benefit to our hitters.  I keep telling our players to that we need to start putting teams away, and that when a team is down we need to step on their necks and not let them get up, and we did that today.  I couldn't be more proud."
 
Wildcat starting pitchers Brielle Copodonna and Kiana Wood silenced the bats of MSUB and had virtually identical pitching lines.  Wood gave up four hits with two walks and three strikeouts, and Copodonna gave up four hits and had four strikeouts on the day.  Wood improves to a GNAC best 16-3 on the season while Copodonna levels her record to 7-7 on the year.
 
"One thing I know from a fact, whether its little league or Major League baseball, pitchers that can locate their pitches will win most of the time," Larabee said.  "It doesn't matter how much movement you have or how hard you throw, if you can hit your spots you will more than likely have a good day in the circle.  Both pitchers did a good job of hitting their spots.  The days where we have given up a lot of runs we were leaving balls in the middle of the plate, but today we got excellent performances from both Brielle and Kiana."
 
Kailyn Campbell went 4 for 6 on the day with two RBI, both coming on an inside the park homerun in game one, her fifth homerun of the season.
 
Six different Wildcats had two or more hits on the day, and all but one batter got a hit on the day.
 
Both Taelor Griffin and Rachael went 3 for 3 between the two contests.  Johnson also scored three runs, drove in a run and was a perfect 2 for 2 in stolen base attempts.  Griffin went 2 for 2 in the nightcap, and her only at bat in game one was a pinch-hit walk off single to right centerfield.
 
Celine Fowler also totaled three hits on the day from her leadoff position, scoring twice and drove in three runners.  One of her hits was also of the walk off variety; plating Johnson in the Wildcats six run fifth inning to enforce the mercy rule.
 
Both Taylor Ferleman and Austin Wilkerson added two hits while Copodonna, Alexa Olague and Sammy Morris added one.  Olague's only hit was a big one, a long two-run homerun in the bottom of the third inning in game one that gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
 
The Wildcats also played stellar defense committing just one error on the day improving their team defense to a GNAC leading .965 fielding percentage.
 
The Wildcats will close out their four-game series with MSUB tomorrow starting at Noon.