Jackets Win Two More in Washington (Mar. 5, 2005)
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

RICHLAND, WA – Montana State-Billings won twice on Saturday at the Central Washington Invitational, defeating Grand Canyon 5-1 and Northwest Nazarene 9-0.  The pair of wins gave the Jackets a four game winning streak and moved their record to 7-4 on the season.   The Yellowjackets wrap up their portion of the tournament Sunday morning with games against St. Martin’s at 8:00 a.m. and Seattle University at 10:45 a.m.

The Yellowjackets controlled the game from the start in the early win over Grand Canyon.  A two-run, two-out rally in the first inning gave starter Megan McCrae (Sr., Brandon, Manitoba) all the run support she would need.  Christy Wankel (Jr., Great Falls, MT) singled through the left side of the infield with two outs to drive in Sara Hanley (Sr., Kalispell, MT), who had doubled.  With the bases loaded, Anna Henderson (Jr., Frenchtown, MT) reached on an error, scoring Jenna Haacke (Fr., Billings, MT).

McCrae—who was making just her second appearance of the season—pitched an efficient game, scattering five hits over seven innings while allowing just one run to earn her first victory of the year.  Grand Canyon fell to 2-5 on the season after debuting their program as one of the top ten teams in the West Region last season.

The Yellowjackets tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Joey Ehnes (Sr., Great Falls, MT) and Cami Rainey (Sr., Terreton, ID) opened the inning with back-to-back singles.  After Hanley’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, Rachel Quarnburg (So., Billings, MT) singled to left center to drive in Ehnes and Rainey. 

Layne Pavey (Sr., Spokane, WA) homered to lead off the bottom of the fifth to add an insurance run.  It was Pavey’s first home run of the season.  She was the PacWest home run champion last year and is the school record holder with 15 career home runs.  Wankel and Ehnes were each 2-for-3 in the game.  Wankel had an RBI and Ehnes scored a run.  Rainey went 2-for-4 with a run scored.  Quarnburg was 1-for-2 with two RBI.

McCrae was untouchable again in game two, shutting out Northwest Nazarene for her second win of the day.  She allowed one hit in the first inning and retired every batter for the remainder of the game.  In the two games combined, McCrae didn’t issue a walk.

“On her good days, Megan is very good,” said Yellowjacket coach Jeff Aumend.  “She threw strikes today and didn’t walk a batter.  We didn’t have to use Joey at all today, so she’ll be fresh for tomorrow.  Offensively, we had a lot of two strike hits.  Our discipline at the plate is getting better.”

The Jackets scored in the top of the third when Quarnburg doubled to left center to score Ehnes, who had reached on an error.  MSUB erupted for five runs in the fourth and added three more in the fifth to win by the eight-run rule.  The Yellowjackets started the fourth inning with three straight singles, and Henderson and Rainey each doubled in the inning.

Henderson was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs in the game.  Ehnes was 1-for-2, and Aysha Blatter (So., Richland, WA) went 1-for-3.  Both Ehnes and Blatter scored two runs and drove in a run.  Quarnburg was 2-for-2 with two RBI, and Rainey went 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI.

Ehnes, Quarnburg and Rainey have had hot bats in the first two weeks of the season.  Ehnes is batting .448 in 11 games.  Quarnburg is hitting .440, and Rainey is batting .390.  One of the top home run hitting teams in the country last year, the Yellowjackets have been manufacturing runs so far this season.  They have just four homers, but have a .380 team on base percentage.