March 13, 2008

Box Score

NAMPA, Id. - Western Washington University survived a scare in the opener and romped in the nightcap as it swept Northwest Nazarene University, 18-9 in five innings and 5-2 in nine innings, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader Thursday at Halle Field.

The defending league champion Vikings improved to 14-5 overall and 4-0 in GNAC action. They left 15 runners stranded, two short of the school record, in the first game, and their run total in the second game was just one off the school standard.

Northwest Nazarene fell to 0-21 overall and 0-6 in conference play, having its losing streak extended to 27 games. The Crusaders dropped their last six contests in 2007.

In the opener, Western took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh, only to have NNU rally to tie the score at 2-all on a lead-off home run by Vanessa Shaw and a RBI single by Shawna Juarez.

But Viking starting pitcher Jessica Rosencrants (Jr., Sequim/Peninsula CC) settled down, retiring seven of the last eight NNU batters in upping her record to 9-3. She scattered five hits, opening the game by setting down the first 11 hitters.

Western took a 1-0 lead in the third as Jenna Mohrweis (Fr., Mill Creek/Jackson) walked and scored on a two-out single by Samantha Rutherford (Fr., Kenmore/Inglemoor). An unearned run in the fifth put the Vikings in front 2-0.

After both teams went scoreless in the eighth, Western scored three times in the ninth. Meghan Flem (So., Hood River, OR/Hood River Valley) had an infield single to drive in Rutherford. Liza Teichler (Sr., Sammamish/Skyline) scored another on a fielder's choice and Caitlin Dotlich (Fr., Sedro-Woolley/Burlington-Edison) had an RBI-single.

The Vikings' Lisa Pendergrast (Sr., Bow/Burlington-Edison) was 3-for-4 and Rutherford 2-for-5. Mohrweis was on base six times, drawing three walks, being hit by a pitch, and reaching on a fielder's choice and error.

In the nightcap, Western batted around twice, scoring six runs in the second and eight in the third to take a 14-0 lead. The Vikings' 18 runs were a season high as were the 16 hits.

Mohrweis and Hilary Cosentino (Fr., Stevenson) each drove in three runs and scored three. Mohrweis was 4-for-5 and Cosentino 2-for-4 with a triple. Teichler was 4-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored, and Kelsey Anderson (Fr., Mount Vernon) and Michelle Wrigley (Fr., Bothell/Inglemoor) each had two hits and two RBI.

With Western leading 18-2, NNU scored seven runs in the fifth before Jennifer Jorgensen (So., Bellingham/Meridian) came in to get the last out after Emily Hardin (Fr., Bothel/Inglemoor) (4-1) had worked the first 4-2/3 innings.

Western is at Central Washington on Saturday (12 noon) for a GNAC twinbill.