ST. George, Utah. – Central Washington University junior Jacie McDaniels continued her hot start to the 2017 season by hitting a walk off three-run homerun in the Wildcats 5-4 victory over Colorado State-Pueblo, helping CWU sweep its first two games at the Dixie State Easton Classic Thursday afternoon.
 
The Wildcats also picked up a 5-2 win in game two against UC Colorado Springs where starting pitcher Kiana Wood picked up her second win of the day.
 
Central Washington fell behind 2-4 heading into the seventh inning of its opening game against Colorado State-Pueblo.  The Wildcats put the Thunderwolves down in order in the top half of the inning, setting the stage for McDaniels' walk of opportunity.  Sammy Morris walked to lead off the inning and Kailyn Campbell singled up the middle to advance Morris to scoring position.  With no outs, McDaniels struck the first pitch and hammered it over the centerfield wall, bringing home three runs and a CWU victory.
 
"We were down and we needed base runners.  I told the team take some pitches and try to bring the winning run to the plate," CWU Head Coach Mike Larabee said.  "Sammy [Morris] earned a walked, and we moved her along with a single.  Jacie made a good adjustment in the box, got a good pitch to hit and took advantage of it.  She is on fire right now and it is fun to watch."
 
McDaniels went 2 for 4 with three RBI, and Kailyn Campbell and Julia Reuble both went 2 for 3 with Campbell added one RBI.
 
Wood also picked up the win in the opener, pitched 3.2 innings of relief, allowing five hits and two runs.  Kayla Smith started in the circle and went 3.1 innings allowing three hits and two runs, striking out three batters in the process.
 
"Was really impressed by Kiana [Wood] today," Larabee said of his senior pitcher.  "She had a disappointing week last week but we knew she would bounce back, and that is exactly what she did.  She gave up a few runs, but she didn't give out any free passes and allowed our defense to clean things up."
 
In game two, the Wildcats fell behind 0-1 to UCCS in the first inning, but responded by scoring two runs in the second inning on RBI hits by Savannah Egbert and Celine Fowler, followed by two more runs in the third on a single by Reuble that plated Campbell and Morris.
 
Central added one more run in the seventh inning to secure the 5-2 victory.
 
Wood went all seven innings to improve to 2-0 on the season, surrendering eight hits and two runs. 
 
Morris went 3 for 4 against the Mountain Lions while Campbell, McDaniels and Kayla Ellis each added two hits.
 
The Central Washington defense, that committed 11 errors in its first five games, finished the day without a defensive miscue, and turned three double plays.
 
"Going into this week we talked about getting back to playing Wildcat defense. If we want to get to where we want to be, we have to play a high level of catch," Larabee said.  "We moved some players around in the field and they really stepped up and played up to their potential defensively."
 
The Wildcats return to action tomorrow when they play Western New Mexico at 9 a.m. and St. Edwards at 11:30 a.m.