KIRKLAND – Northwest hosts Warner Pacific this weekend with four games that technically are home games for the Knights.
WPU's regular home field in Portland is not available due to Covid-19 protocols. WPU is playing its entire softball season on the road. Doubleheaders start at noon Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All four games are at Bellevue High School.
Northwest ranks 50th in the NAIA with 0.5 home runs per game. The Eagles have eight home runs on the season.
Jessica Nunes and
Alyssa Maldonado have two apiece.
Nicola Fish,
Sammi Caron,
Kayla Stanley, and
Sam Parisio also have gone deep this season.
The Northwest-Warner Pacific rivalry is very young, having started just last season before the pandemic. The Knights lead the all-time series 3-1. NU won the last conference game, 4-3. Parisio and Fish had two hits each, and
Palena Gomes drove in two runs in that win.
Northwest is coming off its best series of the season with a 2-2 split with Carroll. The Eagles batted .351 as a team and hit seven home runs. Nunes batted .692 (9-13). Nunes and Maldonado had two home run games.
Three Eagles are hitting above .300, led by Nunes at .341. Fish owns a .326 average, and Caron follows at .302. Nunes has a .561 slugging percentage with her two home runs and three doubles. Nunes, Caron, and Maldonado lead the team with seven RBIs apiece.
Warner Pacific is 7-13 on the season and 1-8 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference after dropping four games at Southern Oregon last weekend. The Knights bat .214 as a team with a 5.47 earned run average. Payton Hergert leads WPU with a .308 batting average, three home runs, and nine RBIs. Melia Croydon paces the Knights with three wins and a 4.33 earned run average.