By: Jamal Smith Sports Editor
March 5 was supposed to be the Wolves’ home opener, but Mother Nature had other plans. The rain came down in droves and forced Western’s double-header against Saint Martin’s University to be postponed until a not-yet-decided future date.
By Sunday, the weather subsided, and the Wolves traveled to Ellensburg, Wash. to play a double-header against Central Washington University. Although the Wolves gave a valiant effort, they inevitably fell short 5-7 in the first matchup and lost 6-7 in the second.
In the first game, junior infielder Kelsie Gardner had three hits in only four at-bats, and she also smacked a home run in the third inning to even the score at 2-2.
In the seventh and final inning and down 4-7 to Central Washington, the Wolves put pressure on the Wildcats when Knowles hit a sacrifice ground-out which sent freshman infielder Ryanne Huffman home to close the gap to 5-7. Unfortunately, that was the closest the Wolves would get.
After the loss, the Wolves looked to get even with the Wildcats in the second of their back-to-back matchups. With the score even at 1-1 going into the second inning, junior Destiny Kuehl crushed a two-run homer to give Western the 3-1 lead.
The Wildcats fought back and started scoring relentlessly, tallying six runs over the next three innings. The Wolves showed grit and determination to come back from the deficit, and a homerun from Ashlee Lynch in the sixth inning brought the Wolves within one run on the Wildcat’s lead.
In the final inning the Wolves were unable to find an offensive spark, and the Wildcats escaped with the victory.
The two losses bring the Wolves’ overall record to 7-10 and 0-2 in GNAC conference play.
Western looks for their first GNAC conference win when they host Montana State University of Billings (MSUB) for a double header on Friday, March 11 at 1:00 p.m. and then at 3:00 p.m. Then the following day, Saturday, March 12, the Wolves again host MSUB for another double-header; the first game starts at 12:00 p.m. and the second at 2:00 p.m.
All four games will be played on Western’s Softball Field.
Contact that author at jwilson15@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalsportWOU
