LACEY, Wash. (Apr. 19) – Friday proved to be good to the Central Washington University softball team as they swept their doubleheader against Saint Martin's University by scores of 6-1 and 5-3.
"I love the way we competed today," CWU Head Coach
Mike Larabee said. "We got a handful of timely hitds that really helped our offense throughout the day."
It took a while for the Wildcats (27-13, 18-4) to find their offensive rhythm against the Saints (19-22, 9-13) in game one. The Wildcats got on the board in the second inning.
Bethany Balucan was on second with two outs in the inning.
Rachael Johnson came through with a clutch two-out single that drove in Balucan, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats plated more runs in the fourth inning. The bases were loaded when
Alycia Bannan singled through the left side the infield.
Sydney Brown and
Kayla Smith hustled home to score. Later,
Katie Kastning lifted a fly ball into right field that brought home
Keegan Wise. The Wildcats led 4-0 midway through the fourth.
The Saints hoped to take advantage of a few Wildcat defensive mis-ques in the fourth inning. The bases were loaded with two outs as Regan Byrd stepped to the plate.
Lexie Strasser was able to strike out Byrd, shutting down the threat from the Saints.
The Wildcats added to their lead in the fifth inning. Balucan opened the inning with a single. Brown hammered a ball off of the center field wall that allowed Balucan to score all the way from first. In the sixth,
Julia Reuble came through with a bases-loaded single that plated Johnson. The Saints added a run in the seventh inning, but didn't add more as the Wildcats took it 6-1.
Balucan was the offensive star of game one. She went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored for the Wildcats. Strasser (13-8) pitched the full seven innings, striking out four while walking two and allowing just one earned run. The only run Strasser gave up came in the final inning.
Game two belonged to
Taylor Williams. Williams pitched 6.1 innings, striking out three Saints without allowing an earned run. Of the 28 batters she faced, Williams forced eight fly outs and eight ground outs.
"I thought our pitching was outstanding," Larabee said. "Both Lexie and Taylor pitched extremely well. We still have to really work on cleaning up our defense. We have to play better defense if we want to accomplish what we want to do."
The Wildcats scored first in game two against the Wolves. Kastning reached base on an error by the center fielder. Reuble roped a single into right field, scoring Kastning from second. In the second inning, Brown boomed her fifth home run of the season. The solo shot gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead midway through the second inning.
The Saints got a run back in the bottom of the third. The Wildcats answered quickly in the top of the fourth. Balucan was on second when
Gracee Dwyer stung a double over the left fielder's head as Balucan scored easily. The Wildcats had a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh inning. Bannan bashed a two-run home run. The dinger was Bannan's sixth of the season. Balucan continued her offensive success by going 2-for-4 with a run scored in game two.
The Wildcats and Saints play another doubleheader tomorrow. This time, it's in Ellensburg with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Five softball seniors will be celebrated prior to first pitch.
"We're looking forward to tomorrow," Larabee said. "We're looking forward to honoring our five seniors. They've done so much for our program and taking time to recognize that is important."
