GNAC Softball: Western Oregon Takes Two From Central Washington

Dieringer's shutout, Pennington's grand slam pace Wolves.

Krysta Pennington blasted a grand slam homer in the nightcap as Western Oregon swept a softball doubleheader from Central Washington on Thursday. Photo: WOU Athletics

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Brianne Dieringer tossed a four-hit shutout in game one and Krysta Pennington blasted a grand slam homer in the nightcap as Western Oregon swept a softball doubleheader from Central Washington on Thursday at Tomlinson Field, 6-0 and 6-4.

The wins kept WOU's record in conference play perfect at 4-0, and they improved to 15-16 overall.

Central Washington dropped to 13-13 on the year and to 2-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Dieringer shut down the GNAC's leading offensive team, allowing only four hits, no walks and she fanned three Wildcat batters.

Her counterpart, CWU's Sara Badgley was even more effective throught the first 4.2 innings, not allowing a Wolves hit.

But things came unraveled for the hosts in the sixth inning and then again in the seventh when WOU scored three runs in each stanza--four of them unearned.

Badgley took the hard-luck loss, despite fanning nine batters. She gave up six hits and only two earned runs.

Six different players had those six hits for WOU.

Tyler Sutherland had a two-run double in the seventh inning,and Jamie Becker knocked a two-run single in the sixth.

Logan Mohr had two of CWU's four hits in the game, one going for two bases.

In the second game, Pennington broke open a 2-2 tie with her four-bagger.

WOU's rally began with two outs, with Trina Dorn keeping the inning alive with a triple, which was followed by a Shannon Prochaska HBP and a Becker walk, setting the table for Pennington.

Meanwhile, Christina Cooke came out of the bullpen in the fourth inning and did not give up an earned run, fanning five to get the win.

Dorn also had a triple in the game and a single to pace the WOU offense (3-4), while Whitney Wilson had a pair of doubles and Sutherland also had two base knocks.

Badgley hit a two-run homer for the Wildcats in the second inning, and Catrina Robertson went 3-for-3 to account for half of the CWU hits in the second game.

Western Oregon will stay on the road, traveling to Nampa, Idaho for a twinbill with Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.

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