Softball | 2/28/2009 3:34:25 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 [Game 1: Box score]  [Game 2: Box score]

NAMPA, Idaho - The No. 28 Western Oregon University softball team split a doubleheader with Northwest Nazarene Saturday, Feb. 28, winning game one 14-8 before dropping game two 6-5.

The spilt allowed Western Oregon to win the series 3-1 while improving to 5-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. NNU now stands 2-6 in the GNAC and on the season.

Game 1
Jessica Hallmark set the Western Oregon school record with eight RBIs in a game as she carried WOU to a 14-8 victory.

Hallmark was 3-for-5 at the plate with two home runs and two runs scored. She hit three-run homers in the third and the fourth inning and added an RBI in the fifth on a single and another in the sixth on a groundout to account for her eight runs batted in.

For the game, the first four batters in the Western Oregon lineup went 10-for-17 with 11 runs scored and 12 RBIs. Sutherland scored four runs as she reached base in four of her five plate appearances.

Jessie Lessard started her second straight game for the Wolves but she did not get out of the second inning when she was relieved by Jessica Wood (3-0), who went the final 5.1 innings allowing just three hits and two runs for her third victory of the season.

Western Oregon fell behind 6-1 as NNU scored six times in the bottom of the second inning. The Wolves then answered back with five runs in the top of the third and three runs apiece in both the fourth and fifth innings to go on top 12-7. WOU would add runs two insurance runs in the top of the seventh on a Kendra George home run and Hallmark's RBI groundout to win its third straight game.

Hallmark's eight RBI topped the previous school record of six which was held by Hallmark (2008) and Shana Hilyard (1996).

Score by Innings R H E
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Western Oregon...... 015 330 2 - 14 14 0
Northwest Nazarene.. 061 001 0 - 8 8 2
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E - Henthorn(1); Shaw(3). DP - Crusaders 1. LOB - Wolves 6; Crusaders 5. 2B - Sutherland(4); Fleer(4); Rueck(1); Chao(2); Shaw(1); Varady(2). 3B - Sutherland(1); Knuth(1). HR - Hallmark 2(3); Fleer(3); George(1); Chao(1). SH - Rueck(1); Koki(1). SB - Mitchell(1).

Western Oregon IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
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Lessard,Jessie ............ 1.2 5 6 6 2 1 1 0 0 0 10 12 1 3
Wood,Jessica W,2-1........ 5.1 3 2 2 3 4 2 0 0 0 19 22 9 3

Northwest Nazarene IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
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Duckworth L,1-3........... 7.0 14 14 14 5 6 1 1 0 0 34 41 1 13

WP - Lessard(3); Wood 2(3); Duckworth(2). BK - Duckworth(1). PB - Little(4).

Game 2
Northwest Nazarene scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat the Western Oregon University softball team 6-5 and avoid the four-game sweep.

In the bottom off the seventh, Brooke Hesselgesser led off with a double and was immediately pinch ran for by Elizabeth Beatty which advanced to third on a wild pitch. After a NNU walk, Stephanie Albrecht's pitch got by Western Oregon's catcher, allowing Beaty to score the game-winning run from third. This was the fourth unearned run of the game yielded by WOU.

Albrecht (0-2) pitched her first complete game for Western Oregon allowing nine hits and six runs (two earned) while walking three and striking out one.

Kendra George led Western Oregon at the plate as she went 4-for-4 with a double, a triple and two stolen bases while scoring a run and driving in another.

Western Oregon scored all five of its runs in the third inning with two out. After Rocky Knuth and Jessica Hallmark had popped up to left field, Amanda Fleer drew a walk, Bailey Rueck was hit by a pitch and George singled to center scoring Fleer. The Wolves would get two more RBI singles in the inning by Tierra-Lyn Cuba and Sasha Koki and would tack on two more on a throw error to take the lead at 5-2.

NNU would chip away with a run in the fourth and would tie it up on a Cortnee Crane two-run single in the fifth.

Score by Innings R H E
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Western Oregon...... 005 000 0 - 5 9 2
Northwest Nazarene.. 200 120 1 - 6 9 1
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Note: 1 out, 1 runner LOB when the game ended.

E - Sutherland(1); Koki(1); Shaw(4). LOB - Wolves 9; Crusaders 10. 2B - George(2); Hevern(1); Shaw(2); Hesselgesser 2(2). 3B - George(1). HBP - Rueck; Hesselgesser. SH - Knuth(1). SB - Hallmark(1); George 2(3); Renfrow(1); Duckworth(2).

Western Oregon IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
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Albrecht,Stephanie L,0-2.. 6.1 9 6 2 3 1 1 0 1 0 31 35 9 9

Northwest Nazarene IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
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Anderson W,1-3............ 7.0 9 5 3 3 4 1 0 1 0 30 35 6 11

WP - Albrecht(1); Anderson(2). HBP - by Anderson (Rueck); by Albrecht (Hesselgesser). PB
- Hancock 2(3).

The No. 28 Western Oregon softball team will return to action next week with a doubleheader at No. 2 Humboldt State Wednesday, Mar. 4, at 1:00 p.m.