Yellowjackets Take Two in Washington (Mar. 4, 2005)
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

RICHLAND, WA – Montana State-Billings bounced back from Thursday’s two one run losses with a pair of wins Friday at the Central Washington Invitational.  The Yellowjackets outlasted Western Washington 3-2 in nine innings in the day’s early game.  They followed with a 6-4 win over Western Oregon, improving to 5-4 on the season.  The tournament continues on Saturday with the Yellowjackets facing Grand Canyon and Northwest Nazarene.

“We looked pretty good today,” said Yellowjacket coach Jeff Aumend.  “We made good hitting decisions.  Our pitching was good all day, even in the 6-4 game.  This is a good tournament to see how we stack up in the region.  We’ll just keep working on getting that record over .500.”

In the win over Western Washington, Yellowjackets trailed 2-0 going into the seventh inning.  With one out, Ehnes pulled a triple down the right field line, scoring Stephanie Cochrun (Sr., Lake Stevens, WA) from first.  Cochrun led off the inning with a walk.  Cami Rainey (Sr., Terreton, ID) followed with single up the middle to plate Ehnes and force extra innings. 

Using the international tiebreaker rule, the Jackets started the ninth inning with Cochrun on second base.  With one out, Ehnes slapped a double down the left field line, driving in Cochrun for the eventual game winner.  The Yellowjackets survived the Vikings’ half of the ninth after Western was able to advance runners to second and third with no outs.  The Vikings failed to execute a suicide squeeze with no outs, and Ehnes closed the game with a strikeout and a ground out.

Ehnes went the distance to improve to 4-3.  She struck out a school-record 15 batters while scattering seven hits over nine innings.  At the plate she was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI.  Sara Hanley (Sr., Kalispell, MT) and Rachel Quarnburg (So., Billings, MT) were each 2-for-4.  Rainey went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

In the second game, the Yellowjackets jumped on Western Oregon with three runs in each of the first two innings.  Anna Henderson (Jr., Frenchtown, MT) drove in two RBI with a single in the first.  Quarnburg hit her first home run as a Yellowjacket in the second, a two run shot to right that put the Jackets ahead 6-0. 

Jordan Waverek (Sr., Kalispell, MT) earned her first win of the season, pitching 5 1/3 innings.  She gave up four runs and eight hits while striking out six.  Ehnes pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for the save. 

Rainey was 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs and an RBI.  Henderson was 2-for-3, and Ehnes was 1-for-1 with a triple and a run scored.  Ehnes leads the team with a .417 batting average while Rainey is second at .382.  Quarnburg went 1-for-2 with the two run homer.  Christy Wankel (Jr., Great Falls, MT) was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.  Jenna Haacke (Fr., Billings, MT) went 1-for-3 with a double.