The 18th-ranked Seattle University softball team continued its winning ways, batting around the order in one inning of each game and using solid pitching to sweep Saint Martin’s, 13-4 and 13-1, Sunday afternoon in a non-conference doubleheader at the SMU Softball Field.
In the first game, did not score first for the first time this season, as ’s scored three runs in the third inning to take the early lead. SeattleU answered right back in the top of the fourth inning, as Katie Petersen (Mission Viejo, Calif.) hit a bases-clearing double with two outs to put her team on top, 4-3.
The Redhawks broke the game open in the fifth, as Sandra Hernandez (Redlands, Calif.) hit the team’s first home run of the season, a three-run shot to left field to make the score 7-3. After Lauren Berin (Lacey, ) and Brenda Stice () each singled, they executed a double steal to score Berin. Cassie Cueto ( City, ) and Petersen hit back-to-back RBI doubles, and Jane Purdy (Missoula, Mont.) drove in Petersen with a single to give SeattleU an 11-3 lead.
The Saints scored a single run in the bottom of the fifth, but SeattleU added two runs in the seventh as Petersen walked, Megan MacIsaac () doubled to drive in Petersen, and Purdy singled to score MacIsaac. Erin Martin (, ) earned her third victory of the season, striking out eight ’s batters in the game.
SeattleU jumped on top in the second inning of game two, loading the bases before Stice drove in Hernandez on a sacrifice fly. Cueto singled to score Berin, and a throwing error allowed Jessica Amador () to come home as well. Petersen drove in Cueto on a ground out to give the Redhawks a 4-0 lead.
This time, it was the fourth inning that was the big one for SeattleU, as a combination of six Redhawk hits and three Saint errors led to eight runs for the visitors. The big hit was a two-run single by Kaha Weir (, ) that scored Heather Hansen (, ) and Jaime Foote (). Weir also drove in the final run of the game in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly that scored Arianne Judy (Selah, ).
Kelsey Reynolds () pitched another solid game, giving up one run on two hits and two walks for her third victory of the year. The win enabled SeattleU to post its best start ever, beating the 2002 squad that won its first five games but lost to ’s in the sixth contest of the year.
(6-0) will have over two weeks off from game action before heading to , for the Central Washington Invitational from Feb. 28 through March 2. The Redhawks will face the other GNAC schools plus in the round-robin competition as they look to defend their CWU Invitational title.