ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Apr. 17) – The Central Washington University softball team travels to Lacey, Washington for a doubleheader against Saint Martin's University on Friday. Then on Saturday, five seniors will be celebrated prior to first pitch of a doubleheader against the Saints.
GAME INFORMATION
Friday | April 19 | 1:00 p.m. & 3:00 p.m.
at Saint Martin's University
Lacey, Washington | SMU Softball Field
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Live Stats
Saturday | April 20 | 1:00 p.m. & 3:00 p.m.
vs. Saint Martin's University
Ellensburg, Wash. | Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field
Watch |
Live Stats
FROM THE COACH
"I expect the SMU series to be very competitive and hard fought," CWU head coach
Mike Larabee said. "They are very well coached and have shown on several occasions that they will battle until the final out. They are fighting for a GNAC tournament berth and will give us all we can handle. It will be an exciting matchup."
"This year's senior class has been a coach's dream," Larabee said. "Not only are they a talented group, but they are very hard workers who have really helped mold our current culture which is outstanding. I will miss them very much and they will be very hard to replace."
SCOUTING SAINT MARTIN'S UNIVERSITY
The Saints remained in the GNAC Championships conversation with a split at Northwest Nazarene last weekend. The Saints won Friday's opener 4-3 and the Saturday finale 6-4. Saint Martin's enters the week with a .285 batting average and 5.41 earned run average.
Nicki DeHan led the Saints with a .400 batting average in the four games, going 4-for-10 with three runs, an RBI and two doubles. She went 1-for-3 in Friday's opener and 1-for-2 in the nightcap with an RBI double. She then had single hits in each of Saturday's games. DeHan enters the week with a .284 batting average. Regan Byrd also batted .400 in the NNU series, going 4-for-10 with a run and an RBI. She capped the week by going 2-for-3 in Saturday's nightcap, which included an RBI single in the Saints' six-run seventh inning. Byrd enters the week with a .327 batting average in 24 games and 19 starts.
Brandi Schoessler earned the pitching victory in Friday's opener, allowing three runs on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts. She now has 15 wins on the season, ranking second in the GNAC. Schoessler also earned the save in Saturday's allowing, allowing one and striking out one in the seventh inning. Lauren Maley earned her second win of the season on Saturday, allowing four runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in six innings of work. Maley enters the week with a 6.61 earned run average.
LAST TIME OUT
The Wildcats took three of the four-game series they played on the road against Montana State University Billings last weekend. The Wildcats control their own destiny in claiming their third regular-season title in the last four years.
On Saturday, the Wildcats earned victories by scores of 8-5 and 9-6. 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.
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.
The Wildcats split with the Yellowjackets on Sunday, taking game one 11-5 before dropping game two 5-1. In game one between the Wildcats and Yellowjackets,
Kastning got the Wildcats on the board in the first inning. Kastning hit a solo home run, her second of the season. With two outs in the inning, the Wildcats loaded the bases for
Brown.
Brown was able to work a walk, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead. The bases remained loaded for
Gracee Dwyer. Dwyer smoked a single that drove in two for the Wildcats. They owned a 4-0 lead before the Yellowjackets swung their bats.
Game one went into a lengthy delay after the first inning. When the game resumed,
Zerr and
Reuble swatted back-to-back solo home runs. In the fourth inning, Zerr homered again. This time it was a two-run shot that extended the Wildcats lead to 8-1 in the fourth inning. Zerr finished the game 4-for-5 with two home runs, three runs batted in and two runs scored. Kastning and Reuble also had four-hit games with each hitting a home run of their own. As a team, the Wildcats banged out 21 hits on their way to an 11-5 win.
Strasser (11-8) got the start in the circle. She had to work around some trouble, as she allowed five earned runs in five innings of work. Strasser was able to strike out four hitters.
Williams pitched the final two innings of the contest, throwing 25 pitches in her outing.
Game two started out quietly and scoreless through two and a half innings. The Yellow Jackets plated three runs in the third inning. MSUB then scored two more runs in the sixth inning to make their lead five runs.
It wasn't until the seventh inning that the Wildcats were able to get on the board. Rachel Johnson started off the inning with a leadoff double down the left field line.
Egbert followed that double with a single to left field allowing Johnson to get to third.
Smith then hit into a fielder's choice allowing Johnson to score from third. That was the only run that the Wildcat's could get across in the game. Even though Central out hit the Yellow Jackets, the Wildcats weren't able to capitalize when they had runners in scoring position.
GNAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The office of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference named
Julia Reuble their softball Player of the Week on Monday.
Reuble was crucial for the Wildcats as they took three of the four games from Montana State University Billings over the weekend. The Edmonds native went 8-for-14 with a double and three home runs over four games. Reuble drove in six for the Wildcats and scored four runs of her own. In the second game of day one, Reuble went 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs, three runs batted in and two runs scored and a Wildcat win.
