By GUY PERRIN
Staff Writer

The Western softball team hosted their first series of the young season on campus this past weekend as they took on the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene. The four game series began with a doubleheader on Friday, Mar. 6 and finished with another doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 7.

The series also marked the beginning of conference play for the Wolves.

On Friday, Northwest Nazarene took a quick two run lead in the first half of the second inning before the Wolves (7-11, 4-0 GNAC) responded with four runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead. Western then used two home runs by outfielder Emma Alfonso to run away with a 6-2 victory in the first game of the doubleheader.

Pitcher Alyson Boytz pitched a complete game, striking out seven batters to get the victory for Western. In Friday’s second game, the Crusaders once again jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead before Western broke out with seven runs in the third and fourth innings to blow the game open and take their second victory of the day, 8-3. The Wolves got another complete game effort from their pitching staff with Pitcher Lizzet Dominguez throwing 93 pitches to pick up the win.

“We had a week off from games and we really just changed our mindset and attitudes and relaxed,” said Botyz. “We took our preseason games and used them as learning experiences to grow from .Our biggest problem from preseason was not finishing our games. Conference was a fresh start and we really worked on competing all seven innings and finishing every inning and every game.”

On Saturday, the day began with a close, hard-fought, 3-1 victory as the Crusaders and Wolves were deadlocked in a 1-1 tie for much of the opening innings. In the bottom of the fourth, third baseman Destiny Kuehl singled home two runs to give Western the lead they would never relinquish. Boytz threw 132 pitches in another complete game performance to star for the Wolves. In the final game of the series, the Wolves’ bats came alive in a 14-2, 5-inning thrashing of the visitors to complete the sweep. The Wolves had three players hit home runs, including their pitcher, Jourdan Williams, who also pitched four innings in relief for the victory.

“It was a team win,” said Kuehl. “It wasn’t just one person who won the game. Everyone came together and picked each other up because in our first game our hitting wasn’t doing so well, so our defense and pitching kept us in the game and in the second game when our defense made a few mistakes, our offense came together and scored.”

Softball swept Northwest Christian University in a doubleheader on Tuesday, Mar. 10 in Monmouth 2-0, and 10-4 improving to a seven game win streak concluding their non-division II games. Infielder Kelsie Gardner went a combined 4-for-7 with three runs scored, leading the Wolves offensively. Boytz also pitched her third straight complete game allowing just four hits in the opening game with a game-high five strikeouts.

The Wolves pick up with GNAC play this weekend, hosting Simon Fraser for a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 14 at 1 p.m. and then again on Mar. 15 at 12 p.m with Western Washington.