ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University softball team hits the road this weekend for a pair of double-headers against GNAC foes Western Washington and Simon Fraser. Due to rain in the forecast, the Wildcats will play Western Washington this Friday, Apr. 6, and Simon Fraser on Monday, Apr. 9.
GAME INFO
Central Washington at Western Washington | Friday, April 6 | 1 & 3 p.m.
Central Washington at Simon Fraser | Monday, April 9 | 4 & 6 p.m.
LAST WEEKEND
The Wildcats dropped their first three games of the weekend against Western Oregon, but bounced back with a pair of victories over Concordia University. The wins looked very different as the Wildcats opened the two-game series with a 20-1 victory in five innings, followed by a 2-1 win on a walk-off single by
Savannah Egbert.
The 20 runs scored in Saturday's first game is the second highest total in school history, as the Wildcats totaled 19 hits by 11 different players.
Jacie McDaniels led the team going 3 for 3 with a run scored and four runs batted in, leading six Wildcats who recorded multiple hits on the day.
The second game featured a pitcher's duel between Concordia starter Mckenzie Smith and CWU's
Kayla Smith. The Wildcats jumped ahead 1-0 on a
Julia Reuble double that scored
Theresa Moyle to give CWU a 1-0 lead. The Cavaliers responded in the top of the third, scoring once to level the game at 1-1.
Central's Smith went five full innings, allowing just one run on four hits with a pair of strikeouts. Strasser entered in the sixth inning and shut down the Cavaliers offense, holding them hitless over the course of her outing and earning two strikeouts.
STASTICALLY SPEAKING
The Wildcats lead the GNAC when it comes to on base percentage (.399), stolen bases (48), runs scored (6.04/game), and RBIs (5.19/game). Defensively, Central Washington has a conference-best ERA of 2.83 and limits opposing batters to just a .261 clip.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Western Washington
2018 Record: 11-23, 5-10 GNAC
Last Weekend: The Vikings played three games last Friday against Montana State Billings, but snow caused the final game of the series to be snowed out. WWU was defeated 2-1, 9-2 and 7-3 in the rare tripleheader that had a game added to the normal doubleheader schedule due to the inclement weather prediction. Freshman second baseman Kira Doan led WWU at the plate on Friday, combining to go 5-for-11 with a home run and two RBIs. Sophomore center fielder Jackie Lucido added a 3-hit game in the finale and recorded her team-leading 20th RBI during the day. Of Western's six runs scored in the three games, four came via solo home runs, including the first collegiate homers from Doan and freshman left fielder Lauren Lo.
Top Hitter: Shearyna Labasan leads the team in batting average (.396), slugging percentage (.525), and on base percentage (.487). She has also recorded a team-high 40 hits and has scored 20 runs. WWU's power hitter is Paityn Cyr, who has registered five home runs this season.
Top Pitcher: Anna Kasner has a team-best ERA of 3.41 and limits opposing batters to a .261 batting average. She has six wins on the season with nine losses, has pitched a total of 88.1 innings, and as tallied 102 strikeouts.
Simon Fraser
2018 Record: 13-11, 9-7 GNAC
Last Weekend: The Clan dropped three of their four games last weekend to the Nighthawks of Northwest Nazarene University. After the four game series, Simon Fraser is now 9-7 in the GNAC (14-11 overall) and sits in fourth place in the conference. SFU's Jessica Tate held the Nighthawks to just five hits in the third game, but gave up a two-run homer. Simon Fraser had seven hits in the game and scored two runs in the fourth. One of those runs came off an Amanda Janes RBI double while Kate Fergusson singled in another run.
Top Hitter: Three members of the Clan have batting averages greater than .300. Taylor Lundrigan leads the group with a batting average of .329, followed by Hailey Gearey (.317) and Kate Fergusson (.315). Lundrigan also has a team-high sluggling percentage (.506), on base percentage (.356), and has 16 RBIs.
Top Pitcher: Alla Stachoski has an ERA of 3.38 and limits opposing batters to just a .283 clip. She has an 8-8 record and has struck out 71 batters over 91 innings.
-CWU-
