April 10, 2011
Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2
Box Score - Game 3
BILLINGS, Mont. - Western Washington University's Erika Quint (Sr., Silverdale/Central Kitsap) became the first pitcher in school history to reach 20 wins in a season, striking out 10 in a complete-game 7-2 victory over Montana State University Billings, to open a Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball tripleheader Sunday (1 p.m.) at Cenex Stadium.
But the Vikings, ranked No.19 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll and No.1 in the West Region, lost the final two games, 7-5 and 6-4.
Western dropped to 27-7 overall and 15-4 in GNAC play, having its conference lead cut to 2-1/2 games over defending GNAC champion Central Washington.
MSUB, which entered the day ranked fourth nationally in home runs per game at 1.34, hit six round-trippers in the three games to up its season total to 49.
The Yellowjackets improved to 17-18 overall and 12-11 in conference action. They have won 12 of their last 19 games following a 5-12 start.
In the first game, Western scored five runs in the first two innings, four of them unearned, in taking a 7-2 victory.
Quint improved to 20-1, allowing just three hits and walking one. It is the ninth time this season that she has struck out 10 or more in a game, one shy of the GNAC record.
Quint gave up a two-run homer to Meg Harasymczuk, her 10th of the season, in the third inning. After that, only one Yellowjacket reached base, that on a single in the fourth, as Quint retired the last 10 batters she faced.
The Vikings scored two more runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Jessica Carey (Jr., Everett) and a single by Jackie Rothenberger (So., Coquitlam, B.C./Gleneagle Secondary).
Carey, Michelle Wrigley (Sr., Bothell/Inglemoor) and Stephanie Fox (Jr., Sammamish/Eastlake) each scored two runs for Western, and Rothenberger drove in two.
In game two, the Vikings held a 5-1 lead, but MSUB rallied to score six runs in the fifth to win 7-5.
Western scored runs in each of the first three innings. Rothenberger and Samantha Rutherford (Sr., Kenmore/Inglemoor) each had run-scoring singles in the first, Carey a two-run homer in the second and Stephanie Fox (Jr., Sammamish/Eastlake) brought in another with a sacrifice fly in the third.
Devyn Baker (Fr., Montesano) (1-3), the Vikings' starting pitcher, gave up just one run in her first four innings, that in the second, but ran into trouble in the fifth as MSUB sent 11 batters to the plate. The big blows were two-run homers by Tarn Potter and Nicole Colpron and a RBI-double by Becca Frank.
Yellowjacket pitcher Amanda Todd (4-5) got the complete-game victory, retiring 12 of the last 14 batters she faced. Todd gave up just a single and a walk during that stretch, with one of those base runners caught stealing.
In the third game, Western pitchers gave up three home runs in a 6-4 loss.
The Vikings trailed 3-0, one on Colpron's second homer of the afternoon, but tied it up with three runs in the fourth. Fox scored one with a single, and Rutherford followed with a two-run single.
Kelly Parsons put MSUB ahead 6-4 with her 11th home run of the year, a solo shot off Western starter Erika Hendron (So., Redmond) (1-1). In the fifth, Kaycee Hoffman hit her 12th of the season, a two-run blast off Quint.
In the seventh, Western scored one and had the bases loaded before Yellowjacket relief pitcher Kasie Condor earned her third save of the campaign. Starter Annaleisha Parsley (7-8) got the win.
Wrigley led off the seventh with her 15th double of the season and scored on a single by Meghan Carrillo (Fr., Prunedale, CA/North Monterey County), who had two hits in the game as did Rutherford.
Wrigley's double, her second of the day, was the 38th of her four-year career, tying the school record set by Cathy Johnson from 1996 to 1999. Wrigley's season total is just three shy of the school standard set by Johnson in 1998.
Following 15 straight road games, the Vikings return home to host MSUB in a doubleheader Thursday (1 p.m.).
