April 7, 2006

Game 1 - Box Score

Game 2 - Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Nicole Walker (Jr., Kenmore/Juanita) and Morgan Parkerson (Fr., RAF Lakenheath, England) each hit home runs and Jackie Quint (Jr., Silverdale/Central Kitsap) pitched a five-hit shutout as Western Washington University blanked Western Oregon University, 6-0, in the nightcap of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader Friday at Viking Field on the WWU campus.

The Vikings, playing at home for the first time since March 12, lost the opener, 4-1. They are now 11-17 overall and 1-3 in GNAC action. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak.

Western Oregon, now 9-18 overall and 3-1 in league play, scored all four of its first-game runs in the top of the first inning.

With two out, Hannah James walked and a flare by Lydia Foster dropped between three Western Washington players for a single. Trina Dorn then doubled in James and Foster, and Britni Mink followed with a two-run homer.

Wolves' pitcher Christina Cooke improved her record to 5-8 as she scattered three hits and struck out five. Cooke did not allow a hit until a leadoff single by Walker in the sixth, retiring 13 straight up to that point.

The Vikings' only run came in the sixth when an infield single by Mandy Harvey (Sr., Coeur d'Alene, ID/Lake City) scored Jessica Wilkinson (Sr., Seattle/Garfield/UW), who reached on a fielder's choice.

Quint (8-8) did not allow a run in the last six innings of the opener and blanked Western Oregon for her first shutout since 2004 in the second game. Quint, who has a 26-23 record during her three-year career, struck out four and walked one.

Western scored three runs in both the third and sixth innings. In the third, Ashley Barber (Sr., Camas) doubled in a run and scored on a sacrifice fly by Harvey. Walker then hit a solo home run, just the second four-bagger of her three-year career, both of them coming in the Vikings' last four games.

In the sixth, Amanda Shiflet (Fr., Stanwood) doubled in a run and scored on a home run by Parkerson, her first collegiate hit in 12 at bats this season.

The Vikings had 11 hits, Harvey, Walker, Shiflet, Wilkinson and Barber each having two.

Western travels to Saint Martin's University on Saturday (12 noon) for a GNAC twinbill.

Parkerson's homer gives Western split

Vikings take 2nd game of twinbill vs. Western Oregon

JOE SUNNEN, THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Morgan Parkerson couldn't hide a smile as she rounded second base after hitting her first collegiate home run.

Neither could her teammates on the Western Washington softball team, who mobbed her as she crossed home plate after sending her first career hit as a Viking over the left-center-field fence.

"It's nice to finally feel good about a hit," Parkerson said. "It almost felt like I was due. It's just really exciting."

Parkerson's home run helped WWU split its doubleheader with Western Oregon at Viking Field on Friday, dropping the first game 4-1 before winning the second 6-0.

The win was the Vikings first in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this season. Western moves to 11-17 overall and 1-3 in conference play. The Wolves fall to 9-18 and 3-1.

"We still have a lot of league games to play so if we just do our jobs we'll be in great shape," WWU coach Lonnie Hicks said. "We're on a roll right now. We're playing with confidence. We just need to keep it going."

The Vikings entered Friday's doubleheader with a three-game winning streak, but fell behind in Game 1 when the Wolves scored four runs with two outs in the top of the first inning.

"We let a ball drop out there that should have been the third out," Hicks said. "After that, they didn't get anything."

Junior Jackie Quint pitched both games, recording her fourth career complete-game shutout in the second game after scattered five hits and striking out four.

She improved to 8-8 this season.

"It's been up and down for us, but things are starting to come around now," Quint said. "It's just nice to be on our home field and get a win."

The Vikings also got a home run from Nicole Walker in the second game. She finished the doubleheader 3 for 5 with an RBI. Western has hit 12 home runs this season, matching their season total from last year.

"Anybody on this team can hit a home run," Hicks said. "It's just all about keeping clean mechanics and keeping your head down."

Of course few home runs are as special as Parkerson's was. Along with it being her first as a Viking, she also hit it in front of her father, who was in town to visit from Lakenheath, England.

"I think she's going to hit a lot more in the next three years," Hicks said. "But that one was special."