KIRKLAND – Northwest begins its Cascade Collegiate Conference softball schedule with four games Friday and Saturday at top-ranked Oregon Tech.
The doubleheaders begin at 1 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Northwest opened the season on Feb. 11 with two wins in the NAIA Winter Invitational in Allen, Texas. It marked the first 2-0 start in the short, 10-year history of the program.
Northwest comes into the conference season at 2-3 with a .323 team batting average and a 4.16 earned run average. The Eagles are third in the Cascade Collegiate Conference in batting average, on-base percentage (.391), and slugging (.466).
Freshman
Emily Barry is off to a great start and is second in the CCC in batting average at .500 and fourth in slugging at .889. Barry is second in the league with two home runs.
Jordan Dippel is ninth in the CCC with a .438 batting average. She also carries a .500 slugging percentage.
Madisyn Leffle leads the team and is ninth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference with three stolen bases through five games.
The Eagles come into the weekend with a 4.16 earned run average, led by
Becca Rennick at 2.55.
Sydney Maurer checks in at 3.65, and
Bella King, who leads the team with 13.1 innings pitched, has a 5.77 ERA. Rennick leads the team with 10 strikeouts in 11 innings. King and Maurer share the team lead with one win each.
Oregon Tech is 31-1 all time against the Eagles, including its 27-game win streak in the series. NU won in 2015, 8-6.
Ranked No. 1 in the preseason NAIA poll, the defending national runner-up Owls are 11-3 on the season. Oregon Tech is on a nine-game winning streak that includes four run-rule victories.
They are second nationally with 100 runs in 14 games. OIT is hitting .373 as a team with a 1.83 earned run average. McKenzie Staub leads the team with a .440 average, with Kennedy Jantzi leading the team with 16 RBIs. Kaila Mick has nine stolen bases.
Sarah Abramson (5-2, 1.90 ERA) and Staub (5-0, 2.29 ERA) have been the primary starting pitchers.
