BURNABY, B.C. – The Western Oregon softball team capped off a successful final regular season road trip with a doubleheader sweep of Simon Fraser on Saturday, winning 2-1, 3-2 (8 inn.) at Beedie Field.
Western Oregon (27-14, 15-9 GNAC) was held without a run until the sixth in game one, trailing 1-0 to Simon Fraser (9-25, 4-19 GNAC) after five innings of play.
Alyson Drury led off the sixth with a single down the left field line before
Sydney Bowers doubled her over to third. A sacrifice fly and a fielder's choice allowed both to score, giving the Wolves their first and only lead of the game at 2-1.
Haley Fabian (11-3) was able to hold that advantage, finishing off the complete game. Fabian pitched seven innings, giving up one unearned run on five hits, walking one and striking out four. She has struck out four in three of her last four starts.
Ryanne Whitaker and
Jenna Kelly both went 2-for-4. Kelly added on a double in the cleanup spot.
Cheyanne Rimer finished game one 2-for-2 with two walks, not being retired in her four trips to the plate.
WOU needed some extra-inning magic to pull out the win in game two and solidify the 3-1 road trip record, getting that help from a timely
Tyler Creach single.
The Wolves rattled off 11 hits in game two, but were held scoreless until the fourth.
Sydney Bowers led off the inning with a solo home run, her third of the season to give Western a brief 1-0 lead.
The Clan responded with an RBI single from Samantha Ruffett in the bottom of the fourth to immediately tie things back up.
After
Kennedy Coy scored on an error in the sixth, SFU was down to their last three outs, trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh. A sacrifice fly to left allowed Hannah Boulanger to score and keep Simon Fraser's hopes alive.
WOU dashed those hopes quickly by striking for a run in the eighth. Creach singled up the middle to score Bailey Kahele and give the Wolves their definitive lead.
Maddie Mayer (10-2) threw all eight innings, allowing two runs on eight hits and striking out two. It was the second time this season the freshman has gone longer than seven innings in a start.
Creach finished 2-for-4 in the game, adding on a walk.
Kelly was once again 2-for-4, finishing the day 4-for-8 with a double.
Western Oregon has now won five of their last seven games with the pair of wins over the Clan and moved into third place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, pushing ahead of Western Washington by half a game.
The Wolves now return home for their final four regular season games. First up, they host Saint Martin's April 27 for a pair of games. First pitch Saturday at WOU Softball Field is set for 12 p.m. PDT in game one of a doubleheader.
