BURNABY, B.C. – The Simon Fraser Red Leafs and Montana State Billings Yellowjackets each earned a win Saturday in the penultimate Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader of the 2023 NCAA regular season for both teams.
The host Yellowjackets (17-27, 9-13 GNAC) took the opening game 3-0 at Avitus Group Stadium, before the Red Leafs (10-35, 4-18 GNAC) answered back with an 11-7 victory.
With one stolen base today, SFU extended its team record total to 100, five short of tying the conference record of 105 set by Humboldt State (California) in 2002.
GAME 1 – Montana State Billings 3, Simon Fraser 0
Starting pitchers Julia Hansen (So., Beaconsfield, Que.) of SFU and MSUB's Alyssa Etheridge gave up just nine hits combined.
Three of the Yellowjackets' five hits were solo home runs. Payton Meyer and Maycen O'Neal opened the third inning with back-to-back shots. Marin Penney rounded out the scoring with a home run in the fourth.
The Red Leafs got hits from sophomore designated player Avery Barker (Abbotsford, B.C.), sophomore catcher Kristen Davyduke (Saskatoon), junior center fielder Megan Duclos (Saint-Eustache, Que.), and Caitlin Zagari, a sophomore from Winnipeg who played at first base. Davyduke's hit was her fifth double of the year.
Hansen allowed five hits and three runs in a 79-pitch complete game for SFU.
GAME 2 – Simon Fraser 11, Montana State Billings 7
The Red Leafs' offence came alive in Saturday's finale, scoring 11 runs on 13 hits, of which five were doubles. SFU held off a rally after MSUB cut its five-run deficit to 8-7 in the sixth inning. The Red Leafs responded with three runs in the seventh to clinch the win and the Saturday split.
Eight of the nine SFU batters in the starting lineup recorded at least a hit.
The first double for the Red Leafs came in the opening inning as sophomore Janique Balcaen (Winnipeg), catching for the first time in her university career, hit one to right center field to score Duclos and put SFU up 1-0.
MSUB took the lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first.
Caitlin Zagari. Photo by Garrett James
The Red Leafs replied by scoring four times in the second. Zagari tied the game at 2-2 after driving a one-out single up the middle to bring home rookie third baseman Cassidy Affeldt (Mission, B.C.). Later in the inning, freshman shortstop Amy Hughes (Brampton, Ont.) doubled to right center and moved to third on an error. Her hit scored Zagari and Duclos. Sophomore left fielder Abby McGlynn (Langley, B.C.) put her team in front 5-2 with an RBI single up the middle to plate Hughes.
The two sides traded solo home runs in the third inning. Davyduke drove one over the fence in right center. It tied her with Affeldt for the team lead in home runs with seven. In the bottom of the third, Penney knocked a ball out of the park for her second home run of the day.
The Red Leafs scored twice on a fifth-inning error to go up 8-3.
A Lauren Blaschak two-RBI double and a Shelby Martin two-run home run for MSUB in the sixth closed the gap to 8-7.
SFU replied with seventh-inning RBI singles from Barker, Zagari, and Duclos, who along with Balcaen and Davyduke, led the Red Leafs with a pair of hits each.
Sophomore pitcher Shaneika Hollingworth (Maple Ridge, B.C.) earned the win after throwing a complete game. She gave up three earned runs and recorded four strikeouts.
The Red Leafs will wrap up the 2023 season with a Sunday doubleheader against the Yellowjackets, beginning at 11 a.m. PT.
SFU will host the 2023 GNAC Softball Championships May 4-6 at Beedie Field.
For the latest information on SFU Athletics, visit athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.
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