April 29, 2006
Box Score-Game 1
Box Score-Game 2
ARCATA, Calif. - Western Washington University ended a long string of scoreless innings by Humboldt State University pitchers, and nearly brought an end to the top-ranked Lumberjacks' long winning streak, as the Vikings fell twice, 7-2 and 4-3 in eight innings, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader Saturday at HSU Softball Field.
Western, which had a five-game winning streak end, dropped to 21-25 overall and 9-11 in league play.
Humboldt State, ranked No.1 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Top 25 and No.1 in the West Region, improved to 50-4 overall. The Lumberjacks, who already have clinched their fifth straight GNAC title (22-1), have won 15 straight games and 44 of their last 45. They are 19-1 at home this season.
Western's Ashley Barber (Sr., Camas) sent the nightcap into extra innings, tying the game at 3-3 with a leadoff home run, her first of the year, in the top of the seventh. But Humboldt State's Nancy Harbeson ended the contest with a walk-off homer in the eighth.
Harbeson's home run, her fifth of the season, came after the Vikings had let a scoring opportunity get away from them in the top of that frame. After Rachel Ellis (Sr., Pleasant Hill, CA/Santa Cruz/Saint Mary's CA) led off with a double, Humboldt State's Lizzy Prescott (24-2), who got the win in relief, struck out the next three Western batters.
Western pitcher Ashley Osman (Jr., Federal Way/Jefferson) (3-5), who got the loss, went the distance, giving up six hits. She also had three hits, doubling in a run in the fifth.
Harbeson had one of three Humboldt State home runs in the opener as the Lumberjacks led 7-0 after five innings. The other two Lumberjack homers were by Brandi Harrison, her 13th of the season, and Ashley Oltjenbruns. Prescott got the win, striking out 12 in 6-1/3 innings.
Western's only runs came in the seventh when Osman hit her second home run of the year and Devin Dykstra (So., Sumas/Nooksack Valley) had a run-scoring fielder's choice. That snapped a string of 36 scoreless innings by Lumberjack pitchers.
Osman, who was 4-for-7 on day, has had 10 hits in 15 at bats over the last four games, three of them for extra bases.
The Vikings are at Humboldt State on Sunday (10 a.m.) for a non-league doubleheader.
