Yellowjacket Softball Wins Two of Three on Second Day at Central WA Tourney (March 1, 2003)

RICHLAND, WA – The MSU Billings softball team had its most successful day of the season Saturday, winning two of three games at the Central Washington Invitational.  In the morning games, they defeated Whitworth 8-0 and Saint Martin’s 6-5.  They dropped the day’s late game 3-2 to Western Oregon to finish pool play at 2-3.

The Jackets picked up their second win of the year in Saturday’s 9:00 a.m. game.  They beat Whitworth (0-4) with the eight-run rule in the fifth inning.  Joey Ehnes pitched the complete-game shutout, striking out six and walking one.  She allowed four hits over five innings.  Ehnes’s teammates gave her run support early and often, scoring three runs in the top of the first and two in the second. 

Right fielder Sara Hanley was 2-for-2 with three RBI and a run scored.  She had two doubles in the game.  Catcher Layne Pavey was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.  She hit her first home run of the year.  Ann Thompson and Stephanie Cochrun also doubled for the Jackets.

In the 11:15 game, the Yellowjackets came from behind in the sixth inning to down Saint Martin’s (2-2) 6-5.  Pitcher Megan McCrae pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and five runs.  She gave up three runs in the top of the fourth as the Yellowjackets fell behind 4-2.  Ehnes replaced McCrae with one out in the fifth and allowed just one hit in the final 2 2/3 innings.

MSU Billings scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5.  Ehnes then shut down the Saints in the top of the sixth.  Theresa Campbell led off the Yellowjackets’ half of the sixth with a single.  Jordan Waverek was inserted as a pinch-runner and scored the game-winning run on a double by Terilee Ehnes.  Joey Ehnes (2-3) earned her second-straight win and was also 1-for-2 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored.  Michelle Falsken was also 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

In the 3:45 game, MSUB gave up a late lead to lose 3-2 to Western Oregon (6-4).  The Yellowjackets scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 2-1 lead.  Joey Ehnes and Falsken each drove in runs.  Western used the suicide squeeze in the top of the sixth to score the winning run as the Yellowjackets couldn’t put together a run in their final six outs.  McCrae pitched seven innings, striking out three and giving up four hits in the loss.

The Yellowjackets will face the host team Central Washington (4-1) in the quarterfinals of bracket play on Sunday at 11:15 a.m.  If they win, the semifinal game will be played at 1:30 p.m. and the championship game will be at 3:45.