UPDATED
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Simon Fraser University began its Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule with a pair of losses to border rival Western Washington, dropping the first game of the doubleheader 7-1 and falling 10-5 in the second game.
WWU has won the last 11 games in the head-to-head series against the Clan and was picked by GNAC coaches as the preseason top team in the conference. The Vikings are the league's most experienced team, returning 18 players from last year, including eight position starters and three all-conference selections.
With the pair of losses, the Clan drops to 9-9 overall, 0-2 in the GNAC. The Vikings improve to 7-5 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.
Simon Fraser and Western Washington complete the four-game series on Sunday for a scheduled doubleheader at 3 & 5PM on Beedie Field. Fans can watch SFU's home opener live on campus or in HD on Clan TV at athletics.sfu.ca/LIVE.
SFU 1 WWU 7In game one against WWU, SFU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as senior
Nicole Ratel hit a single to right centre to score
Taylor Gillis from second base. After stranding two Clan players on base, the Vikings stormed back with three runs in the bottom half of the frame to take a 3-1 lead.
"We lost this one in the first inning when we couldn't break the game open with our bats," said Clan head coach
Mike Renney. "We were flat offensively."
Simon Fraser kept WWU's lead at two runs until the bottom of the fifth when Vikings senior Emma Blauser hit a three-run home run to blow the game open. SFU's offense could not manufacture any runs after the first inning as they dropped the contest by the final score of 7-1.
The Clan had six hits in the game with Gillis leading the way, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Four other SFU players picked up a hit, including
Taylor Lundrigan who hit her second triple of the season.
Clan pitcher
Tori Belton was charged with the loss as she went 4.2 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits. Freshman
Jessica Tate entered the game in the bottom of the fifth in relief of Belton but surrendered the home run.
Western Washington's Lynsey Amundson went 3-for-3 with 3 RBI while starting pitcher Makinlee Sellevold recorded seven strikeouts in a complete-game victory.
SFU 5 WWU 10The Vikings jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the back end of the doubleheader but Simon Fraser would cut the lead to one in the top of the second with a two-run home run from freshman
Hailey Gearey, her first career homer.
Western Washington answered with runs in the second and third inning to make it 5-2.
After pitcher
Jessica Goulet threw a three up, three down bottom of the fourth, the Clan's bats took over in the fifth. Ratel's double down the left field line scored
Stephanie Caron and Lundrigan for SFU's first two runs of the inning before Gearey hit an RBI single to bring pinch runner
Kendra Ho across home plate, tying the game up at 5-5.
With the momentum shifted behind the Clan, WWU responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead. The Vikings would add three more runs in the sixth to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 10-5 win.
"We gave up two many runs after errors," said Renney. "We had errors that didn't enable us to get out of the first and fifth innings and they rallied," said Renney. "On the positive side we battled back in the second game and liked seeing that."
Gearey finished the game going 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored. Lundrigan went 3-for-4 while Ratel and
Rachel Proctor both had two hits. As a team, SFU totaled 11 hits in the contest to Western's 14.
Sophomore
Alia Stachoski started the game for the Clan but only lasted two outs, surrendering three runs on 2 hits. Goulet pitched four innings and was the losing pitcher, allowing four runs on eight hits. Belton also saw action late in the game, replacing Goulet in the bottom of the fifth.
Follow the SFU Clan softball team for behind the scenes pictures and more all season long on their official Instagram account.
--@SFUClan--
