NAMPA, Idaho — The Simon Fraser University Clan went 1-1 against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday splitting a four game series with the Crusaders and staying in the hunt for post-season play in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Simon Fraser managed a 3-2 win over the Crusaders in the first game of the twin bill but lost decisively in the second, 14-0. Friday, the Clan split a doubleheader with NNU, losing 8-0 but taking the second game 11-3.
The Clan is in the midst of a six game road trip that concludes with a doubleheader on Monday at Saint Martin's in a re-scheduled contest from earlier in the season. SMU is 23-4 overall pending the outcome of a twin bill on Saturday.
Simon Fraser is 18-14 overall and sits in fourth place in the GNAC with a 9-7 conference record, pending games played Saturday. The Clan won only five conference games last year and the team has now surpassed last season's win total, when the Clan was 17-30.
Northwest Nazarene falls to 7-7 in the GNAC and 13-14 overall after games Saturday.
"Without a doubt our conference is all about parity so splitting a four game series on the road after a 12 hour bus ride isn't all that bad," said Clan head coach
Mike Renney.
The Clan received a dominant pitching performance from the tandem of sophomore
Alia Stachoski and junior transfer
Tori Belton to pick up a 3-2 win in the opener. Stachoski scattered 7 hits over five innings, giving up one run in the fifth after the Clan had built a 3-0 lead.
Belton came on to pitch in the sixth with two runners on. She struck out the first batter and got the second to fly out to right field. That advanced the lead runner to third and she later scored on a double steal. Belton got catcher Madalyn Smith to strike-out looking to end the inning.
Clinging to a one run lead in the seventh, Belton took out the Crusaders three up, three down. She got short stop Anna Olson to pop up to third. Belton put out the next batter off an attempted bunt. She struck out the third batter swinging to pick up her fourth save of the season.
Stachoski earned the win, improving to 9-6.
"While we missed some key opportunities and left runners on base early, we got the runs needed behind a quality shared performance from Alia and Tori," said Renney.
The Clan picked up one run in each of the first two innings off singles by
Taylor Lundrigan in the first to score
Stephanie Caron, and
Robyn Mogavero in the second, that scored
Alex Baylak from third.
The winning run came off the bat of senior
Nicole Ratel in the top of the fifth. She singled to centre field to score Lundrigan, picking up her GNAC-leading 33rd RBI of the season.
Lundrigan, Ratel and Mogavero had two hits each. The Clan had eight hits in the game.
In Game two, the Clan gave up five runs in the first, and trailed 7-0 after two. The Crusaders scored another five runs in the third, ultimately handing the Clan a 14-0 loss, their worst loss of the season.
"I felt we simply were too content with the win in the first game and didn't show up for the second game," said Renney. "It was a combination of giving hungry NNU hitters too many good pitches combined with sloppy defense across the board. Before you knew it we were all but out of it by the end of the second inning.
The softball game on March 29 against UBC has been cancelled.
Follow the SFU Clan softball team for behind the scenes pictures and more all season long on their official Instagram account @sfu_softball.
--@SFUClan--
