After one big inning allowed Northwest Nazarene to pick up its first win of the season, Seattle University came back and dominated the second game of the conference doubleheader, as a 6-3 Crusader win was followed by a 10-0 Redhawk victory Saturday afternoon in softball action at Halle Field.
Seattle University scored first in the top of the fourth inning, as Sandra Hernandez (Redlands, Calif.) doubled and scored on a single by Jaime Foote (Lynnwood, Wash.). Northwest Nazarene responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning, including a bases-clearing double by pitcher Rachel Bare to help her own cause. Katie Free had two singles in the same inning, scoring the first run and driving in the sixth and final run of the frame.
The Redhawks attempted a comeback in the seventh inning, as Megan MacIsaac (Santa Barbara, Calif.) doubled and scored on a single by Cassie Cueto (Benton City, Wash.). Cueto would score on a single by Katie Petersen (Mission Viejo, Calif.), but Hernandez, the team’s best hitter so far this weekend, sent a line drive right into the glove of centerfielder Jael Henthorn to end the game.
Bare earned the victory for the Crusaders, scattering seven hits while walking one and striking out two SeattleU batters. Kelsey Reynolds (Kent, Wash.) took the loss, allowing 11 hits and four earned runs, striking out three batters but seeing her record fall to 7-2.
In the second game of the twinbill, SeattleU scored in the first inning as Katie Antich (Spokane, Wash.) walked, advanced to third on two groundouts, and scored on a single by Lauren Berin (Lacey, Wash.). The Redhawks continued the offensive pressure in the second inning, as MacIsaac singled to drive in Brenda Stice (Poulsbo, Wash.) and Antich, and Berin followed with an RBI double that scored MacIsaac.
Stice scored again in the third inning on a triple by Cueto, who took advantage of a Crusader error to score on the play. Antich again reached base and came around to score on MacIsaac’s single to make the score 7-0. In the fourth inning, Antich’s fly ball to right field scored both Jessica Amador (Whittier, Calif.) and Foote, and SeattleU completed the scoring in the fifth when Hernandez doubled to plate Berin.
Erin Martin (Valencia, Calif.) continued to baffle Northwest Nazarene (1-23, 1-7 GNAC), allowing only two hits and a walk in pitching her second shutout in as many days to improve to 10-0. Hernandez had five hits, including three doubles, in the doubleheader while MacIsaac scored twice and drove in three runs and Antich scored three times and stole three bases.
Seattle University (17-2, 3-1 GNAC) stops in Ellensburg, Wash., on its way home to face Central Washington in a GNAC doubleheader Sunday, March 16, beginning at 1 p.m.