Western Washington Vikings Softball - Western Washington University Official Athletic Site

WWU hits school-record five homers in 9-5 win at MSUB

Vikings lose nightcap 7-4, split doubleheader with GNAC leader

Jackie Rothenberger

April 12, 2012

Box Score - Game 1

Box Score - Game 2

BILLINGS, Mont. - Western Washington University set two school records with five home runs, three of them consecutively, in a come-from-behind 9-5 victory against league-leading Montana State University Billings to begin a Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader Thursday at Cenex Stadium.

In the nightcap, the Vikings took an early 3-0 lead, only to have MSUB rally for a 7-4 win.

WWU is 11-28 overall and 7-15 in conference action. The Yellowjackets are 28-10 overall and top the GNAC at 21-5.

Trailing 5-0 in game one, the Vikings scored one run in the fifth inning on a home run by Kristen Allen (Jr., Arlington), then erupted for eight more runs in the sixth on eight hits, four of them homers, as they sent 12 batters to the plate.

Jackie Rothenberger (Jr., Coquitlam, BC/Gleneagle Secondary) led the frame off with a homer over the centerfield fence. Two outs later, Allen walked and scored on a home run by Jessica Carey (Sr., Everett). Krista Bickar (Sr., Hoquiam) and Rachelle Berry (Jr., Alger/Burlington-Edison) followed with solo blasts.

MSUB changed pitchers, but WWU wasn't done yet. Meghan Carrillo (So., Prunedale, CA), Amanda Flores (So., Ferndale) and Rothenberger each singled. All of them scored, Carrillo on Rothenberger's hit, and Flores and Rothenberger on a double by Stephanie Fox (Sr., Sammamish/Eastlake).

WWU finished with 14 hits in the contest, its second-highest total of the season. Carey had a team-high four hits, driving in two runs and scoring run, and Carrillo had three hits.

Getting the win in relief was Devyn Baker (So., Montesano) (1-1), who gave up just two hits in blanking the Yellowjackets for three innings.

In the second game, the Vikings' Stephanie Fox (Sr., Sammamish/Eastlake) (5-6) pitched two scoreless innings, extending her school-record streak to 29 (fourth in GNAC history) before giving up seven runs over the next three innings.

WWU led 3-0 with a run in the first and two more in the third, Berry driving in one with a single and Carrillo the other with a double. A lead-off home run in the fourth by Amanda Flores (So., Ferndale) gave the Vikings a two-run advantage, 4-2.

MSUB cut the deficit to one with a run in the bottom of the fourth, then plated four more in the fifth, the big blows being a two-run single by Nicole Colpron, followed by a two-run homer by Tanya Eckles.

Carey had a team-high five hits in the two games, and Berry extended her hitting streak to 11 games, the longest by a Viking this season. The school record is 18.

WWU, which had never had more than three homers in a game previously, concludes its six-game road trip with GNAC doubleheaders at Saint Martin's on Saturday (12 noon) and at Western Oregon on Sunday (11 a.m.).