May 7, 2011
Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Caitlin Dotlich (Sr., Sedro-Woolley/Burlington-Edison) and Krista Bickar (Jr., Hoquiam) each hit two-run homers as Western Washington University snapped a seven-game stretch without a round-tripper to win the opener 8-4 against Central Washington University on Saturday in a regular-season ending Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader at Frederick Field on the CWU campus.
In the nightcap, Keilani Cruz had a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning as Central rallied for an 8-6 victory.
Western, which split six games with the Wildcats during the season, finished second in the GNAC standings at 24-11 and is 36-14 overall. The Vikings, No.5 in last week's NCAA Division II West Regional rating, are expected to get at-large berth when the post-season announcement is made Monday.
Central earned an automatic berth to regionals by winning the GNAC title with a 27-8 record and is 33-14 overall.
Bickar also had a solo home run in the second game, giving her three on the year. She finished the day 4-for-5 with three runs batted in and three runs scored.
Central's Kelsey Haupert increased her GNAC-leading home run total to 20 with one in each game. The homer by Cruz was her sixth of the season.
In game one, Central took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Samantha Petrich drove in one with a single and scored on a two-run homer by Haupert.
Dotlich's two-run blast, her second of the year, came in the second, and Bickar's round-tripper started a five-run uprising for the Vikings in the fourth. Four of the runs were unearned because of two errors.
Western's Michelle Wrigley (Sr., Bothell/Inglemoor) drove in three runs with a two-run single in the fourth and a ground out in the sixth.
Western pitcher Erika Quint (Sr., Silverdale/Central Kitsap) improved to 28-5 with her 19th complete game. She gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out seven.
In game two, Western scored two runs in the first on singles by Jackie Rothenberger (So., Coquitlam, B.C./Gleneagle Secondary), who had three hits in the contest, and Jordan Emmil (Jr., Colville).
A Bickar home run in the third and an unearned run in the fourth gave the Vikings a 4-3 lead. But Central took its first lead, 5-4, with two runs in the fifth, one of them a homer by Haupert.
Western tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth. Karli Baumgartner (Silverdale/Central Kitsap) reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of that frame, Cruz's three-run shot, which came with two out, gave the Wildcats an 8-5 lead.
In the seventh, Western scored one run and had the bases-loaded with two outs before a force out ended the game.
Central pitcher Maria Gua (8-5) went the distance in getting the win.
