March 1, 2003
Box Score
RICHLAND, Wash. - Amanda Grant (Sr., Mukilteo/Kamiak) pitched a two-hit shutout and first baseman Hadley Jensen (Jr., Olympia) was 3-for-3 to lead a 10-hit attack as Western Washington University blanked nationally ranked Humboldt State University, 4-0, in second-day action Saturday at the eighth annual Central Washington University Invitational Softball Tournament being held at the Columbia Playfields.
That completed pool play for the Vikings (3-1), who defeated Seattle University, 2-1 in eight innings, earlier in the day and won the Mount Hood Division. They begin championship bracket play Sunday at 11:15 a.m. against either Saint Martin's College or Seattle, who play at 9 a.m.
Humboldt State, ranked No.20 in the preseason NCAA II Top 25, fell to 13-9 overall. The defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Lumberjacks managed just two singles off Grant (1-0), who retired the last 11 batters she faced.
Grant worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the first, with a strikeout and a ground out. In all, she struck out three and walked three.
Western got all the offense in needed in the fourth inning when Jensen had a two-out single that scored Ashley Barber (Fr., Camas), who had a leadoff single. Jensen also had a RBI single in the Vikings' three-run sixth, designated player Jodie Rock (Jr., Anacortes) driving in the other two runs with a single.
The shutout was the 14th for Grant during her four-year career, two short of the school record set by Alison Haukaas (1996-99).
In its first game Saturday, Western came back to edge Seattle, 2-1, as shortstop Dani Deyette (Jr., Olympia) drove in two runs with a bases-loaded double in the eighth inning.
The Vikings managed just three hits and Seattle four through the regulation seven innings. The international tie-breaker rule then was enforced in the eighth with a runner placed at second to begin each team's at bat.
Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the top of the eighth on a run-scoring single by Sarah Carrier. In the bottom of that inning, Western's Jessi Williams (Sr., Everett/Cascade) was placed at second. After Barber was hit by a pitch and Jensen got a bunt single on an attempted sacrifice to load the bases, Deyette ended the contest with a line drive to left centerfield that scored Williams and Barber.
Kristen Kiekenapp (Sr., Renton/Lindbergh) (1-1) picked up the win in relief for Western, giving up just two hits and striking out four in 3-2/3 innings. She has now struck out 17 in 10-2/3 innings pitched in the tournament.
Sarah Diamond (So., Sedro Woolley) pitched the first 4-1/3 innings for the Vikings, allowing three hits and walking four.
Seattle had runners in scoring position three times during regulation play, but failed to score. The Redhawks had a runner on third with two outs in the second and runners on first and second with two outs in the fourth. They loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth. Diamond struck out the next batter, then Kiekenapp came in and ended the threat with a strikeout and fly out to center field.
Kristin Donohue pitched the first 6-2/3 innings for Seattle, scattering three hits and walking five. She walked the bases full with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Jennifer Hewitt coming in to get a ground out and send the game into extra innings.
Outfielder Megan McPhee (So., Anacortes) has been Western's top hitter through the first four games of the tourney, going 8-for-14 (.571) with six RBI and five runs scored. Jensen is hitting .500 (7-of-14) for the Vikings.
