BILLINGS, Mont. (Apr. 13) – The Central Washington University softball team (24-12, 15-3) traveled east for a four-game series against Montana State University Billings (10-25, 3-14). Today marked the first home games that MSUB hosted on the year. The Wildcats took both games for the sweep on day one.
The long ball was a centerpiece for both teams this afternoon. In game one there was a total of four homeruns, and just one came for the Wildcats.
Bethany Balucan broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning.
Sydney Brown led off the inning drawing a walk and then two batters later Balucan took a 1-1 pitch deep over the right field fence.
Central went on to add another run in the inning making it a 5-2 score after four and a half innings of play. The Wildcats came up in the top half of the seventh and added three insurance runs to make their lead 8-4. The seventh inning started when
Maddy Zerr reached on an error by the MSUB shortstop. After a
Kayla Smith single to center field,
Julia Reuble pinch hit and roped a single to center field of her own, scoring
Theresa Moyle who pinch ran for Zerr.
Balucan tallied another RBI after she grounded out to the shortstop but Smith from third.
Savannah Egbert collected her fifth of the game to bring in
Sydney Brown from third base. Egbert became just the third player in the GNAC this year to have fit hits in a single game.
That was all Strasser would need as she went all seven innings allowing five runs on 12 hits and walked just one of the 34 batters that she faced. Strasser moved to 10-8 on the season after her 114-pitch outing.
"I thought our pitchers battled through a tough hitters ball park giving up 23 hits," CWU Head Coach
Mike Larabee said. "We battled through some adversity and got out of some bases loaded jams. We swung the bats really well on the other end and grabbed 26 hits on the day which really helped us."
Game two also had four homeruns in the game, this time three of them came from Wildcat hitters. The scoring got started in the second inning when Smith led off the inning with a double and then was brought in to score on the next pitch when Brown tripled to center field. Balucan then came up and one pitch later and singled through the right side to bring in Brown.
The Wildcats added three more runs in the top of the third inning. The inning started when
Katie Kastning drew a four-pitch walk.
Alycia Bannan came up and hit a one strike pitch just over the center field fence. Reuble wasn't ready to end the inning and she followed Bannan's homerun with one of her own. After three innings of play, the Wildcats led 5-3.
MSUB added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a one run lead. Reuble added her second homerun of the game and the fourth of the season to knot the game at six runs apiece. Central pulled away in the top of the sixth after they added three more runs to take a three-run lead.
The cushion was all that
Taylor Williams would need as she shut the door the next two innings and picked up the win out of relief. The junior went 4.1 innings and gave up just three runs on four hits. Williams struck out three of the 20 batters that she faced.
"Reuble had a heck of a day at the plate she loves it here and swings it well every time," Larabee said. "Bethany had a great day all around which was great to see. I just really liked the way we competed at the plate today. It was awesome to see."
The Wildcats play two more against the Yellow Jackets tomorrow before traveling home on Saturday.
