ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University softball team swept its doubleheader against Concordia University (Ore.) (11-12, 0-2 GNAC) by scores of 5-2 and 9-7.
 
Quotable
"Feels good to start GNAC play off 2-0," CWU Head Coach Alison Mitchell said.  "Especially with Concordia being picked to finish ahead of us.  Really proud of how we came out and competed.  We had our bats going and our pitching was on fire today, it feels good."
 
Game One 
Samantha Stanfield (6-1) picked up the win for the Wildcats (11-7, 2-0 GNAC).  She went the distance, allowing just four hits and a pair of unearned runs.  Stanfield also struck out five hitters en route to the victory.
 
A one-out big fly from Julia Reuble made it 2-0 Wildcats in the bottom of the second.  She lifted a laser into the tree line in center to bring around Alyssa Benthagen, who led off the inning with a single.  
 
Concordia's offense halved the deficit in the top of the fourth.  Kendall Jantzi sent a single back up the middle, scoring Karley Yoshiokia.  Stanfield worked out of the fourth without anymore damage.  
 
The bats were quiet until the top of the sixth inning, when Jantzi came back up with a runner on third. A fly ball to center was deep enough to score Hannah Self to tie the game at 2-2.  Following the sacrifice fly, the Cavaliers loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a single.  Stanfield forced Allie Hancock into a groundball back to the circle.  Stanfield fired to Benthagen at the plate, nabbing the runner at home to keep the score level at 2-2.  Stanfield then got Macy Besuyen on another grounder back to the circle, evading anymore damage.
 
Theresa Moyle led off the bottom of the inning by reaching on a fielding error.  Reuble then laced a single into right field, sending Moyle to third.  The third batter of the inning, Sydney Brown, roped a two-run double into left center. Both Moyle and pinch runner Adriana Lomeli-Smith came around to score, giving CWU a 4-2 advantage.  Later in the inning, a two-out single from Allie Thiessen brought home Brown for a 5-2 lead.
 
Stanfield retired the first two batters of the inning, before Self drew a walk.  Jantzi then flew out to Paige Liikala in center field, sealing the victory for the Wildcats.
 
Game Two
Lexi Strasser (3-1) got the call to the circle in the back half of the doubleheader.  The junior righty went all seven innings.  She allowed seven hits, three earned runs, and struck out five hitters.
 
Central erased the zeros on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first.  A lead off bunt single from Thiessen was followed by an infield single from Harlee Carpenter.  A one-out walk from Reuble loaded the bases.  Two batters later, Mikayla Kopacz drew a two-out walk to send Thiessen in from third.  Brown followed Kopacz with a single to right, scoring Carpenter, to give the Wildcats a 2-0 edge.
 
Strasser had retired the first seven consecutive hitters, before the Cavaliers were able to put a runner aboard.  Concordia received its first baserunner on a throwing error with one out in the top of the third.  A single from Chelsea Sligh put runners on first and second.  They advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, before Strasser got the second out of the inning on a strikeout.  Taylor Delgado lined a single to left field, scoring Sligh, but an errant throw on the backend of the play rolled to the fence in right center to allow both Mariah Peterson and Delgado to score on the play for a 3-2 CU lead.
 
The Crimson and Black wasted no time equalizing the score. Moyle roped a one-out triple to right center field in the bottom of the third, before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Kopacz.
 
Both pitchers hurled a clean inning in the fourth, before CWU's offense put up a crooked number in the fifth.
 
Reuble led off with a double down the right field line, a strong throw from corner forced the Wildcats' first baseman back to second as she rounded the bag and thought about extending her double into a triple.  Lomeli-Smith entered as a pinch runner for Reuble, before Kopacz drew a walk.  Mitchell went to her bench again, calling on Sydney William's to run for Kopacz.  Brown came to the plate and laced another single, scoring Lomeli-Smith for a 4-3 lead.  Williams and Brown each advanced a base on a fielding error in left, putting runners on second and third.  
 
The next batter, Gracee Dwyer, also singled to drive home Williams.  Dwyer moved to second on the throw to the plate.  With runners on second and third, Alee Cruz hit a grounder to short.  The Cavaliers opted to cut down the runner at the plate, but Brown beat the throw for a 6-3 advantage.  A passed ball allowed Dwyer to score and made it 7-3 in favor of Central.  Liikala, who pinch hit for Thiessen, drew a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch.  A double from pinch hitter Maddy Zerr drove home both Cruz and Liikala, as well as extending the Wildcats' lead to 9-3.
 
A solo homerun from Jantzi in the top of the sixth made it 9-4, but it was the only run the Cavaliers' managed in the sixth.  
 
In the seventh inning, Concordia sent a trio of runners across the plate.  Besuyen singled down the left field line, scoring a pair.  She later scored on a single by Yoshioka two batters later, making it 9-7.  With two outs, Yoshioka attempted to move into scoring position with a stolen base.  Benthagen fired a strike to second, nabbing the would-be base thief and sending CWU home with a doubleheader sweep.
 
Up Next
Central Washington hosts Western Oregon tomorrow (March 8) at Gary and Bobbi Frederick Field.  First pitch is scheduled for noon.