BELLEVUE – Northwest split a doubleheader with British Columbia on Tuesday, taking the Cascade Collegiate Conference game 4-3 before falling in the non-conference contest, 11-3.
"We got a needed win in the opener and got a little sloppy in the second game," said NU Head Coach
Pam Fink. "But we got to play everyone who was healthy and kept ourselves in the hunt for a postseason berth."
The Eagles take to the road this weekend, playing doubleheaders at Providence at 1 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday (Pacific time).
NU 4, UBC 3
After Nicole Salas brought in a run for the T-Birds in the top of the first, NU tied the game in its half of the inning.
Madisyn Leffle singled, stole second, and later scored on a squeeze bunt by
Kayla Stanley.
The 1-1 score held up until the fifth inning when the Eagles posted three runs.
Ashley Carter singled and scored when Leffle's grounder was thrown into right field, allowing Leffle to reach third. Stanley again executed the squeeze bunt to score Leffle for a 3-1 lead. Stanley stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI ground out by
Emily Barry.
UBC scored twice on RBI singles by Mia Valcke and Salas in the top of the seventh and had runners at first and second before
Bella King induced a ground out to end the game.
King went the distance for her seventh win of the season.
Northwest had five hits—all singles—by Leffle,
Jordan Dippel, Barry,
Jessica Nunes, and Carter.
Valcke had four hits for the Thunderbirds.
UBC 11, NU 3
Northwest took a second-inning lead, 1-0, when
Alyssa Maldonado singled and took second, third, and scored on three wild pitches.
Emma Dorval had an RBI grounder, and Valcke produced an RBI double to give UBC a 2-1 lead in the third.
Northwest took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when
Abby Blahut scored on a wild pitch ahead of an RBI single by Leffle.
UBC took back the lead in the fifth with three runs, highlighted by a two-run double by Valcke.
Dorval added an RBI single in the sixth, and UBC plated five more runs in the seventh, including home runs by Valcke and Shae Sever.
The Eagles had five hits. Dippel and Stanley had doubles with Leffle, Maldonado, and
Livi Lindsey picking up singles.
UBC got three hits each by Valcke and Olivia Malesku.
Becca Rennick took the pitching loss.