MONMOUTH, Ore. --- Senior Day was a little extra special for
Emma Cordero as the Western Oregon senior hit a ball she won't soon forget.
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In front of friends and family, Cordero blasted a three-run homer – the first of her career - with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to break a 1-1 tied and lift the Wolves past Western Washington 4-1 in game one Saturday at WOU Softball Field. WOU nearly came back from an 8-2 deficit late, but fell just short 8-7 in game two to split the doubleheader and series.
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The Wolves trailed WWU 1-0 heading into the fifth before
Lauren Mauer blasted her eighth homer of the season for WOU to tie the game (also giving her 42 RBI – the fifth most in a season in WOU history and the most for Wolf since Destiny Kuehl drove in 48 in 2017).. The Wolves then put runners on first and second with two outs when Cordero took the 0-1 pitch and deposited over the center field fence and give WOU a 4-1 lead.
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Braeli Martin got the win in relief, throwing 1.2 hitless and scoreless innings.
Penny-Lew Barnett got the start and gave up one run (unearned) on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 5.1 innings of work.
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In game two, WWU led the game off with a solo homer before the Wolves regained the lead in the third on and RBI single from
Reghann Fairbairn and an RBI from
Brooklyn Schneidt.
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But the next half inning the Vikings scored five and added two more in the top of the sixth to make it 8-2. However, the Wolves three in the sixth to cut the lead to three and scored two more in the seventh before WWU was able to secure the win.
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In the game,
Victoria Zimmerman walked twice to become the program's all-time leader in walks with 76. She was 1-for-3 as well and scored three runs. Mauer finished 3-for-5 with a run and a double,
Madelynne Hommel went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs,
Hope Bodak was 2-for-3 with a run and Fairbairn finished 1-for-2 with two RBI and three walks (increasing her WOU single-season record to 35).
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The Wolves finished the season 24-27, an 11-win improvement from the year before and tied for the most wins since winning 33 in 2019.
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