Box Score (G#1) | Box Score (G#2)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Western Washington University freshman Anna Kasner made sure the Vikings softball team came home with a split against the league-leading Wildcats, tossing a 4-hit shutout and hitting her first career home run in a 9-0 win in the second game of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader played Sunday at Frederick Field.

WWU was defeated 9-1 in 5 innings in the first game of the doubleheader. The split moved the Vikings to 18-15 overall and remained in a tie for 4th place in the GNAC with a 7-7 record. Central Washington is 27-7 overall and has a firm hold on first place in the GNAC with a 14-2 mark.

Kasner (Milton, WA/Fife) recorded her 5th shutout of the season, limiting the Wildcats to 4 hits, while striking out 8 batters. The dominating performance comes a week after shutting out 7th-ranked Chico State in a 13-strikeout 1-hitter. Sunday's win improved her to 10-5 on the season with a 2.84 ERA.

Junior first baseman Emily Benson (West Richland, WA/Kamiakin) combined to go 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored and hit her team-leading 9th home run of the season. Junior outfielder Carlie Richards (Kennewick, WA/Kamiakin) was 4-for-6 with her second home run in as many days and junior third baseman Makinlee Sellevold (Everett, WA/Cascade) was 2-for-5 and hit her third home run of the season.

Western continues GNAC play on Thursday with a doubleheader at Simon Fraser starting at 5 pm.

The Vikings trailed 3-1 through their half of the 5th inning, before Central Washington ended the game with a 6-run bottom half of the 5th inning.

WWU committed a season-high 6 errors in the game, leading to 8 unearned runs charged to starting pitcher Shearyna Labasan (Mililani, HI/Maryknoll).

Trailing 3-0, Emily Benson connected on a solo home run in the top of the 4th inning to cut the deficit to 2 runs at 3-1. It was Benson's 9th home run of the season and 28th of her career.

The Wildcats rallied for 6 runs in the bottom half of the 5th inning, with the center fielder Celine Fowler providing the walk-off 2-run single to invoke the 8-run rule.

Benson was 2-for-2 to increase her team-leading batting average to .439.

CWU starter Kiana Wood improved to 14-1 on the season allowing 3 hits and 1 run while recording the complete game.

Central Washington 9, Western Washington 1 (Apr 09, 2017 at Ellensburg, WA)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington.. 000 10 -  1  3  6      (17-15, 6-7)Central Washington.. 111 06 -  9  7  2      (27-6, 14-1)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington - Labasan and RichardsCentral Washington - Wood and EllisWin-Wood (14-1)  Loss-Labasan (6-5)  T-1:23HR WWU - Benson (9)Weather: 47-degrees, Sunny

Freshman starting pitcher Anna Kasner turned in another brilliant performance, tossing a 4-hit shutout with 8 strikeouts in a 9-0 win over CWU in the second game of the GNAC doubleheader.

WWU recorded 13 hits, the most in a GNAC game this season, and tied its season high with 3 home runs in the victory.

Kasner (10-5) also helped herself out at the plate, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, with her solo home run with two outs in the top of the 3rd inning proving to be the game-winning RBI.

The solo home run by Kasner sparked a three-run inning, with Sarah Morrow (Enumclaw, WA) and Makinlee Sellevold also providing run-scoring hits.

The Vikings put the game out of reach with four more runs in the top of the 6th inning, with Sellevold (solo) and Carlie Richards (2-run) both hitting home runs. WWU added two more insurance runs in the top of the 7th inning to bring the game to the final score of 9-0.

Richards went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, raising her season batting average to .407 (22-for-54).

Morrow went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, while Sellevold and Benson were each 2-for-3 with 2 RBI as the Vikings out-hit the Wildcats 13-4.

CWU starter Kayla Smith was saddled with the loss allowing 6 hits and 4 runs in 5.0 innings.

Western Washington 9, Central Washington 0 (Apr 09, 2017 at Ellensburg, WA)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington.. 003 004 2 -  9 13  0      (18-15, 7-7)Central Washington.. 000 000 0 -  0  4  1      (27-7, 14-2)----------------------------------------------------------------------Western Washington - Kasner and HughesCentral Washington - Smith; Sweeney (6) and EllisWin-Kasner (10-5)  Loss-Smith (8-5)  T-1:57  A-207HR WWU - Sellevold (3); Richards, Ca. (2); Kasner (1)Weather: 48-degrees, Partly Cloudy

Game Notes: Anna Kasner recorded her 5th shutout of the season, tied for 5th-most in single-season WWU history...Emily Benson hit her 9th home run of the season, tied for 3rd-most in a single season in WWU history (Benson hit school-record 12 HR in 2016)...her 28th career home run extended her school mark in that category...Emily Benson (.485/16-for-33) and Carlie Richards (.462/12-for-26) are WWU's hitting leaders in GNAC play...Anna Kasner is 6-1, 3.07 ERA in 7 starts in GNAC play.