GNAC Softball: WOU Takes Two More from NNU

Western Oregon moves to 11-1 in conference play.

Shannon Prochaska Photo: WOU Athletics

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Western Oregon rallied to win the first game and then hung on for a hit-and-error filled second game victory during a softball doubleheader sweep of Northwest Nazarene, 6-2 and 11-9 at the WOU Softball Field.

The victories improved the conference-leading Wolves record to 11-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and they are now 22-18 overall.

The Crusaders fell to 4-25 on the year and to 1-9 in the GNAC.

With the wins, at worst, WOU maintains a three-game lead over Central Washington, who is playing a doubleheader at Saint Martin’s today.

Seattle, who was also three games back at the beginning of the day, is idle until Saturday when they play Western Washington. They are now four games behind the Wolves.

In game one, WOU came back from a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth to claim a 6-2 win.

The Crusaders scored the first run of the afternoon on a solo home run by Katie Free in the second inning, and NNU pitcher Rachel Bare would make that run stand up, scattering five Wolves hits through the first four innings.

But in the fifth, Amanda Fleer hit a two-run homer, scoring Shanley Young, who had doubled.

The Wolves added insurance runs in the sixth on three hits and two NNU errors. Tyler Sutherland had an RBI-triple in the inning, and Fleer drove in a run with a base hit.

Fleer had three RBI in the game and two hits. Sutherland, Jamie Becker and Melissa Wilson also had two hits each for the hosts, while Lori Setbacken and Free had two hits apiece for the Crusaders.

Brianne Dieringer got the win in the pitcher’s circle for WOU, surviving nine NNU hits, one walk, and she struck out four.

In the second game, WOU jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second inning, using home runs by Becker (solo) and Bonnie Trigero (three-run), and a two-run double by Trina Dorn.

The Wolves moved its lead to 9-1 in the bottom of the fourth with three more hits and runs, seemingly putting the game out of reach.

But the Crusaders scored five runs in the fifth inning on just one hit—taking advantage of three WOU errors.

After WOU scored two more runs in the bottom half of the inning, NNU scored three more times in the top of the sixth, thanks to a three-run blast by Vanessa Shaw, to shave Western’s lead to just two (11-9).

WOU’s first game pitcher Dieringer, who came on to put out the Crusader fire in the sixth inning, put NNU down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to get the save.

Shannon Prochaska and Krysta Pennington had three hits each in the game for WOU, while Dorn and Becker added two apiece. Free had a pair of hits for NNU, and Shaw drove in four runs.

Western Oregon hosts Central Washington in a GNAC doubleheader on Friday (2:30 PM), while Northwest Nazarene will travel to Western Washington (2:00 PM).

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