GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Northwest won its school-record 14th game of the season as part of a doubleheader sweep of Providence on Saturday, 18-9 and 8-6.
 
Head Coach Pam Fink also tied and broke the record for softball coaching wins at NU at 38.
 
"The team wins record is special. It's a marker for our senior class to know that they are improving the program," Fink said. "We showed a lot of fight in the first game and were able to come back and put the pedal down."
 
The coaching wins record is the third in Fink's career. She led Oklahoma Baptist with 645 wins—the most wins in all women's sports at her alma mater. She also had the coaching wins record at her first coaching stop—Sumter County High School in Georgia.
 
"I've been doing this for a while. The players get the credit for the wins," Fink said. "It's great for the players and the people that support us. "
 
Additionally, Jordan Dippel and Emily Barry each ended the day with 46 hits on the season, which ties the school single-season record.
 
NU 18, UP 9
 
The Eagles opened with a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run double by Barry and an RBI single by Alyssa Maldonado.
 
The Argos tied the game in the home half of the first, but NU went up 5-3 in the second when two runs scored on an outfield error.
 
Providence answered with four runs in the second to take a 7-5 lead and held that until the Eagles' bats came back to life in the fifth inning.
 
Abby Blahut and Kayla Stanley had two-run singles, Dippel had an RBI single, Maldonado had a run-scoring grounder, and Nicola Fish had a sacrifice fly in a seven-run fifth inning for a 12-7 lead.
 
NU tacked on six more runs in the sixth for the mercy rule win. Two runs scored on an error, Barry drew a bases-loaded walk, and Maldonado tacked on a three-run double.
 
NU had 15 hits, including three each by Maldonado and Stanley. Dipple, Blahut, and Madisyn Leffle had two hits each.
 
Becca Rennick picked up her second win of the series.
 
NU 8, UP 6
 
NU never trailed and held off a late Providence rally for the school-record 14th win. 
 
The Eagles scored three runs in the first inning on RBI singles by Stanley and Barry and a sacrifice fly by Fish.
 
Dippel put Northwest ahead 4-1 in the third with an RBI ground out, and Sydney Maurer plated a fifth run with another grounder in the fourth inning.
 
Leffle, who stole five bases in the game, scored on an errant pickoff throw in the fifth, and Barry added an RBI grounder for a 7-1 lead.
 
Providence erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-6.
 
Barry doubled home Leffle in the top of the seventh. 
 
Barry and Stanley had two hits each to pace NU.
 
Bella King went the distance to get her eighth win of the season.
 
NU returns to action April 15-16, with Eastern Oregon visiting for senior weekend.