NAMPA, Idaho -- The Montana State University Billings softball team was outscored 7-1 in the first innings of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon at Northwest Nazarene's Halle Field in Nampa, Idaho.

 

The Yellowjacket fall to 5-10 on the season and are now 3-7 in conference play, while the Crusaders improve to 4-7 on the year and pulled even to .500 (3-3) in the league. It's just the second time in the series history that the Crusaders have swept a double-dip from the Yellowjackets.

 

Only two Jackets had multiple hits during the afternoon as Olivia Heidinger went 2-for-4 with a run and a stolen base in two games. Meg Harasymczuk was 3-of-8 with a run, an RBI and a home run.

 

Yellowjacket pitchers gave up 12 runs, all earned, and on 21 hits with nine walks and nine strikeouts in the two games combined. The Jackets hit just .241 against the Crusaders and scored five runs on only 13 hits in the pair of games.

 

The Yellowjackets had a promising start to game number one as Rose Harrington belted a triple to lead-off and then Tarn Potter was hit by a pitch and stole second to have runners in scoring position with no outs. Crusader's pitcher Nicole Grummons was able to pitch her way out of the jam by getting the next three batters out with a pair of fly outs and a strikeout.

 

The Crusaders then struck first in the bottom of the first inning, scoring a pair of runs on two sacrifice flies, taking a 2-1 lead on starting pitcher, Annaleisha Parsley.

 

MSUB cut back into the lead in the top of the second inning when Kelly Parsons hit a sacrifice fly into left field, scoring Angela Lingle who was at third.

 

NNU again scored in the third inning when Grummons helped her own cause by hitting a single that scored Catherine Lowery. The Crusaders again tacked on a run in the sixth on a double by Chelsea Allsbrook.

 

Parsley (2-4) took the loss, throwing 6.0 innings with four runs on nine hits and struck out four batters. Grummons improved to 3-4 with one run, unearned, on five hits and five strikeouts.

 

 

The Yellowjackets began game two of the twinbill with a run as Nicole Colpron lined a double into left center for an RBI that scored Heidinger.

 

The Crusaders answered back in a big way in the bottom of the inning, getting a run from an Allsbrook single, three from a double by Haley Hevern and the fifth on an RBI single by Chelsey Anderson.

 

Jenna VanEykeren tried to get the Yellowjackets back in the game in the third inning as she hit a two-run bomb that scored Kaycee Hoffman.

 

NNU padded their 5-3 lead in the fifth when Becky Louber singled into center field for two RBIs and Cara Duckworth doubled in the final Crusader run to extend the lead to 8-3.

 

The Yellowjackets scored their final run in the seventh when Harasymczuk homered to right center to lead-off the inning.

 

Amanda Todd (0-3) took the loss for the Jackets, while Anderson earned her first victory of the season (1-3).