LAS VEGAS – The Western Oregon University softball team opened the 2017 season with a pair of losses on the first day of the Desert Stinger Classic hosted by Montana State Billings at Majestic Park. Azusa Pacific took the opener against the Wolves, 3-1, in the early afternoon before Chico State rallied in the final frames to take a 7-4 victory over WOU in eight innings.
 
Game One – Azusa Pacific 3, Western Oregon 1
The Wolves plated a single run in the top of the third inning, but Azusa Pacific answered with two in the bottom half of the same frame and added insurance in the sixth to post a 3-1 win. Western Oregon mustered just three hits against Carly Xepoleas who induced eight groundout and eight fly balls.
 
Ryanne Huffman recorded two of the Wolves' three hits as the sophomore tallied a pair of singles. Her second hit in the visiting half of the third inning plated Emma Alfonso for a 1-0 lead. Destiny Kuehl's third inning single was the only other hit for WOU.
 
APU's Nikki Sprague, the three-time Pacific West Conference Preseason Player of the Year, went 1-for-3 with a run batted in.
 
Western Oregon starter Haley Fabian was tagged with the loss in the circle after scattering three hits in five innings of work. Of her two runs allowed, only one was earned.
 
Game Two – Chico State 7, Western Oregon 4 (8 innings)
The pitching duo of Chandler Bishop and Sammi Cadwallader held Chico State to two runs over six innings, but a comeback in the seventh inning and a big three-run home run in the eighth led the Wildcats to a 7-4 victory over the Wolves.
 
Chico State scored a run in the first inning, but Western Oregon answered with two runs in the bottom of the second when Kuehl scored on an error following an Ashlee Lynch double. Lynch would touch home on an RBI single by Zoe Clark.
 
Clark gave Western Oregon a 4-2 lead in the fourth with a two-run home run.
 
The Wildcats scored twice with only one hit in the top of the seventh, but stranded the bases loaded. With the tiebreaker in effect, Chico State's runner in the top of the eighth was put out trying to steal third on a good strike from Ku'ulei Siolo. After the base running error, the Wildcats got a single and a walk to set up the game-winning three-run blast from Rachel DeHart.
 
Fabian took her second loss of the day allowing three runs on two hits in relief.

Notes
- Western Oregon left three base runners in each game while APU and Chico State combined to leave 17 runners stranded.
- Bishop pitched well in her WOU debut against Chico State – 4.0IP, 2R, 5H, 2K with eight ground ball outs.
- WOU limited mistakes with one error against Azusa, but had three errors in the nightcap against the Wildcats.
 
Next Up
The Wolves will play two more games in the 2017 Desert Stinger Classic with a 2 p.m. game against Minot State and a 7 p.m. start against Cal State San Bernardino.