SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Northwest kept its postseason hopes flickering with a split at Bushnell on Friday, winning 4-2 before falling 6-2.
 
The Eagles could make the postseason even with a loss in Saturday's conference finale, but it would take a perfect combination of wins and losses by Bushnell, Corban, and Carroll. A win would put pressure on those three other teams to pass the Eagles in the win column, as NU would have the tiebreaker on all three opponents. All three teams have conference games next week while the Eagles finish the regular season on Saturday.
 
"We came out strong, but we couldn't sustain the momentum," said NU Head Coach Pam Fink. "We know what we have to do tomorrow, and we'll do everything we can to keep our season going."
 
NU 4, Bushnell 2
 
The Eagles came out scoring early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Madisyn Leffle reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on an infield single by Jordan Dipple, and scored on a squeeze bunt by Kayla Stanley.
 
Dipple scored on an RBI ground out by Alyssa Maldonado.
 
The Eagles took a 4-0 lead in the fifth. With two outs, Stanley, Emily Barry, and Maldonado had consecutive doubles, with Barry and Maldonado getting RBIs.
 
Becca Rennick went the distance, allowing one earned run while striking out five for her third win of the season. 
 
NU had six hits, led by Dippel with two. Abby Blahut also had a single.
 
Bushnell 6, NU 2
 
Northwest made four errors that led to three unearned runs.
 
The Eagles trailed 2-0 before getting a run in the third on an RBI double by Stanley.
 
NU added its other run in the fourth on an RBI single by Ashley Carter.
 
Northwest had six hits, led by Stanley and Nicola Fish with two each.
 
Leffle had two stolen bases on the day to become the first Eagle to reach 50 stolen bases in a season.
 
The teams play in an 11 a.m. doubleheader on Saturday with only the first game counting as a Cascade Collegiate Conference game.