Softball | 4/30/2010 7:26:38 PM

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

NAMPA, Idaho - Tyler Sutherland went 6-for-8 with five runs batted in and Bailey Rueck had six hits in seven at bats, as Western Oregon swept a doubleheader from Northwest Nazarene, Friday, Apr. 30. The Wolves won game one 5-1 then took game two 11-0.

WOU improved to 30-17 on the season and 24-10 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, to move within one game of first place Central Washington. This was the second 30-win season in the Pam Knox era (2008 was the other). The losses were the eighth and ninth straight for NNU, as it fell to 9-36 on the season and 8-30 in conference.

Game 1
Jessie Lessard was the pitching and hitting star in the Wolves' 5-1 win in game one. She pitched a complete game, allowing one eight hits and one runs while striking out seven to even her record at 7-7 on the season. Lessard also added a three-run homer in the sixth.

The Wolves trailed 1-0 entering the fifth before rallying for two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth. After Amanda Fleer led off the fifth with a single and advanced the second on an error, Tierra-Lyn Cuba singled to center to score Fleer and tie the game at 1-1. Cuba would some around to score the go-ahead run later in the inning on a single by Tyler Sutherland. WOU added three insurance runs in the sixth when Lessard connected on her second homer of the season.

Sutherland finished the game 3-for-4 while Bailey Rueck and Fleer added two hits apiece.

Game 2
Jessica Wood (6-6) delivered the Wolves' second strong pitching performance on the afternoon, as she shutout the Crusaders on two hits while walking no one and striking out four.

Tyler Sutherland knocked in four runs going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a stolen base. Bailey Rueck went 4-for-4 with her eighth home run of the season, while knocking in two and scoring two. Jessie Lessard also scored twice and had two hits and Ellen Bogardus went 2-for-3.

The Wolves scored one run apiece in the first and second innings and put up five in the third to take a 7-0. They then scored four in the sixth to go up 11-0 and end the game early, via the eight-run rule.

Wood retied 12 straight NNU batters at from the middle of the second inning to the sixth.

Next games
These teams will complete their four-game series with another doubleheader beginning tomorrow at noon (mst).