March 9, 2011

Box Score - Game 1

Box Score - Game 2

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University's Erika Quint (Sr., Silverdale/Central Kitsap) nearly pitched a perfect game in a 9-0 six-inning win in the opener, then the Vikings let a five-run lead slip away in losing the nightcap 9-7 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader with Northwest Nazarene University on Wednesday at Viking Field on the WWU campus.

Western, ranked No.17 in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II Top 25 Poll, had a 12-game winning streak, one short of the school record, end with the loss. It is 12-1 overall and 7-1 in GNAC play.

Northwest Nazarene, which snapped a seven-game losing streak with the win, is 2-7 overall and 1-3 in GNAC action.

A line single to right field by the Crusaders' Chelsea Allsbrook to lead off the sixth inning was all that kept Quint from perfection. Quint retired the first 15 NNU batters she faced and 18 of 19 overall, striking out seven.

It was Quint's second shutout of the season and her sixth complete game in eight starts.

Western's Rachelle Berry (So., Alger/Burlington-Edison) broke a scoreless tie with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the fourth for a 1-0 lead.

The Vikings scored six runs in the fifth, the big hits a pair of two-run doubles by Berry and Caitlin Dotlich (Sr., Sedro-Woolley/Burlington-Edison). Another two-run double in the sixth by Jackie Rothenberger (So., Coquitlam, B.C./Gleneagle Secondary) ended the game on the eight-run mercy rule.

In the second game, Western led 7-2 after five innings, only to have the Crusaders score seven runs in the sixth. Capping that off was a two-out, bases-loaded home run by Catherine Lowery that handed reliever Jenna DeRosier (Fr., Kelso) her first loss in four decisions.

The Vikings' Meghan Carrillo (Fr., Prunedale, CA/North Monterey County) was 3-for-3, driving in three runs and scoring two, and Rothenberger was 2-for-4, scoring one run and driving in two.

Carrillo singled in a run and scored another during a three-run rally in the first, and tripled home another run in the second. The Vikings also plated two runs in the fourth, one on a single by Rothenberger.

Western scored another run in the fifth when Michelle Wrigley (Sr., Bothell/Inglemoor) doubled and came home on a two-out sacrifice fly by Krista Bickar (Jr., Hoquiam).

NNU scored single runs in the first and fifth innings, the latter on a solo homer by Haley Hevern, before erupting in the sixth. That rally began with two hits and two walks off Western starter Erika Hendron (So., Redmond).

The Vikings continue their home stand this weekend, meeting Western Oregon in GNAC doubleheaders Saturday (12 noon) and Sunday (12 noon).