KIRKLAND – Northwest opened the Cascade Collegiate Conference season with a pair of wins over Warner Pacific on Friday, 3-1 and 7-4.
 
"It was just a great team effort today," said NU Head Coach Pam Fink. "We pitched really well and we got the big hits when we needed them. We also played pretty good defense in the first game."
 
Natalie Dimitrov went the distance for the Eagles in the opener, getting the pitching win while scattering five hits.
 
Warner Pacific took the lead in the first inning with an RBI double by Emma Foster.
 
Northwest scored all three of its runs in the fourth. Chloe Van Boekout tied the game with an RBI single and the Eagles took the lead when Madisyn Leffle reached on catcher's interference. Kayla Stanley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the third run.
 
NU had three hits with singles by Leffler, Van Boekout and Dimitrov.
 
The Eagles scored twice in the first in the second game. Leffle doubled and scored on a squeeze bunt by Sydney Maurer for a 1-0 lead and Emily Barry doubled and scored on a single by Paige Creasey.
 
Warner Pacific tied the score on a sacrifice fly by Bliss and an error in the second.
 
Bella King singled home Chloe Van Boekout to take a 3-2 lead in the home half of the second.
 
Leffle singled, stole second and scored on a single by Maurer in the fourth. Three more Eagle runs came across in the fifth on an RBI double by Olivia Brown and a two-run wild pitch.
 
Jovita Laloulu singled in a run for WPU in the sixth and put the first two runners aboard in the seventh before Brown started a line-out double play from second base.
 
Leffle led NU's 11-hit offense with three with Maurer and King adding two each. Emily Barry, Jamelah Lewis, Van Boekhout and Brown had one hit each.
 
King picked up the pitching wins, allowing seven hits over seven innings.
 
The teams finish the series with a noon doubleheader on Saturday.