Jackets Cut Down Swords in Doubleheader Sweep (Apr. 5, 2005)
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

BILLINGS, MT – Dominating pitching and timely hitting lifted Montana State-Billings to a PacWest softball doubleheader sweep of visiting Chaminade University on Tuesday, winning 7-0 and 5-0.  The wins improved MSU Billings to 22-10 overall and 5-3 in the Pacific West Conference.  It is the first time in the program’s history that the Yellowjackets have been above .500 in the conference standings.  Chaminade dropped to 9-28 overall and 2-8 in the PacWest.

The Yellowjackets and Silverswords meet again on Wednesday for a pair of conference counters.  The games are scheduled for 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. at Cenex Stadium.  Following Wednesday’s games the Jackets will be off until Sunday when they host league leader Hawaii-Hilo.  MSUB will have played 10 games in six days when they wrap up the series with Chaminade on Wednesday.

Joey Ehnes (Sr., Great Falls, MT) went the distance in both games to improve her season record to 18-7.  She struck out eight while scattering two hits over seven innings in the first game.  She took a no hitter into the fifth inning.  In game two, Ehnes fanned 12 Silverswords and gave up three hits.  She lowered her season ERA to 1.50 and raised her strikeout total to 196.  She will likely pass the 200 mark on Wednesday and be within range of her single season school record of 261.  She is also just three wins short of her school record of 21 victories in a season.

“We always play with a lot of confidence at home at Cenex Stadium,” said Yellowjacket head coach Jeff Aumend.  “Today was no different.  We’re at a point in our program where we expect to win every time we step onto the field, and we’re going to find ways to make that happen.  Joey not only makes our pitching and defense successful, but she also makes our offense successful because we’re not in a position where there’s a lot of pressure on us to get a lead back.”

In game one, the Jackets gave Ehnes all the run support she would need in the first inning when Rachel Quarnburg (So., Billings, MT) singled to drive in Cami Rainey (Sr., Terreton, ID).  Rainey led off the game with a double and didn’t slow down the rest of the day.  In the two games combined, she was 6-for-7 at the plate with four runs and two RBI.

The Yellowjackets poured it on in the bottom of the third.  Sara Hanley (Sr., Kalispell, MT) led off with a double to center and was promptly driven in by Rainey’s double to right center.  Two batters later Theresa Campbell (Sr., Great Falls, MT) hit a towering two-run home run off the rocks beyond the left center fence to give MSUB a 4-0 lead. 

MSU Billings added two insurance runs in the fifth and another in the sixth.  Quarnburg drove in Rainey with one out in the fifth.  Ehnes scored on the next play when the Swords’ centerfielder dropped a fly ball.  Jessica Frank (Fr., Great Falls, MT) closed out the Jackets’ scoring in the sixth with an RBI single to right, scoring Hanley who had tripled.

Rainey was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.  Quarnburg went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI, and Ehnes was 2-for-4.  The Swords’ Frances Mabasa and Carolyn Fisher recorded the team’s only hits against Ehnes.

The second game was a pitcher’s duel for the first two and a half innings between Ehnes and Chaminade’s Donnell Wittekind.  Rainey broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third with a solo shot over the right centerfield fence. 

The Jackets scored three runs in the fourth inning with three different hitters driving in runs.  Aysha Blatter’s (So., Richland, WA) double plated Christy Wankel (Jr., Great Falls, MT) to get things started.  Stephanie Cochrun (Sr., Lake Stevens, WA) singled to score Jenna Haacke (Fr., Billings, MT), and Hanley’s sac fly to center brought Blatter in from third.  MSUB added a run in the fifth when Haacke singled to drive in pinch runner Jordan Waverek (Sr., Kalispell, MT).

Rainey was 4-for-4 in the game with a run and an RBI.  Wankel went 3-for-3 and scored a run.  Haacke was 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI.  Heidi Garcia was 2-for-3 for Chaminade including a double.

Click HERE for photos of this game.