Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ELLENSBURG, Wash.  – The Montana State University Billings Softball team split their games again on the second day of competition against Central Washington University on Sunday, Mar. 16.  MSU Billings won their first game of the day 5-2, but then fell 7-10 in the second.
 
MSUB 5, CWU 2
 
It was a three-shot homerun by Samantha Jo Everett in the fifth inning that lifted MSUB to the win in the third game of MSU Billings four-game series against Central Washington.
 
Montana State University Billings (7-10, 2-6 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) put up two runs in the third inning to start.  Bella Rovens hit a single to right field to bring in Brittney Sanders.  On the next at bat, pinch hitter Kelsey Devlin hit a sac fly to left to bring in Breanna Wilson from third.
 
Central Washington University (13-6, 6-2 GNAC) had one run in the third and one in the sixth.  Taylor Ferleman hit a sac fly scoring Jordan Zurfluh and in the sixth Alyssa Egan hit a single to left to bring in Jill McDaniels.
 
In the fifth inning, Sanders got the Yellowjackets started by hitting a single to center field.  Caryn Perrigo would come in to pinch run on first.  Breanna Wilson hit a double down the right field line to advance Perrigo to third.  Jessica MacDonald would come in to run for Wilson.  Everett would then come up to bat, and on a 2-1 count, hit a shot over the center field fence to score three runs.
 
Everett finished the game going 1-2 with three RBI's, with one sacrifice hit, and the homerun.  Jessica MacDonald was on the mound for the Yellowjackets.  She pitched all seven innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs.  She is now 3-2 on the year.
 
Maria Gau (6-3) picked up the loss for the Wildcats.  She also pitched all seven innings allowing five earned runs on four hits. 
 
"Our team played really well today," Head Coach Lisa Allen said.  "In the first game we couldn't have asked for a better performance. Jessyka MacDonald threw a complete game and kept their offense at bay. Our offense did a good job of getting clutch hits with runners in scoring positions and our defense continued to play well."
 
CWU 10, MSUB 7
In the second game the Yellowjackets had three doubles, a triple, and a homerun, but it wasn't quite enough as CWU outhit MSUB 17-11.
 
In game two, Brittney Sanders was 3-4 and Samantha Jo Everett was 3-3 as Sanders had a homerun this game and Everett added another RBI to her total.
 
For MSUB, Sanders hit a single-run homerun in the fifth for the first run for the Yellowjackets.  She would follow that up with a double in the sixth to score two runs.  Breanna Wilson hit her triple in the sixth to bring in one run.  Everett hit another single in the sixth to bring in Wilson.  Aubrey Conceicao added a single in the sixth as well to score three more runs, giving MSUB six runs in the sixth inning, taking their total to seven runs.
 
This time it was Central Washington's Ferleman who would hit a single in the sixth inning to break the tie and give CWU the lead at 10-7.  MSUB would be unable to put up any more runs in the seventh and that would end the game.

Amanda Roark was the pitcher of record for MSUB and picked up her first loss of the season for the Yellowjackets and is now 1-1. 

Alyssa Egan (1-1) got the win for CWU.
 
"In game 2 our offense made a good adjustment late in game to knock out their pitcher," Coach Allen said.  "Our pinch hitters, Kelsey Devlin and Hali Gruntowicz, did an awesome job stepping in and getting hits on their at bats. Our pitching staff and defense played well. We just needed one more big rally in the second game.   Overall, it was a good weekend for our team, and we look forward to our first home games next weekend."
 
Montana State University Billings will play their season opening series against Western Washington University next weekend.  The first game is scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 22 with a 1 pm start time.
 
Live video and live stats for that game will be available at MSUBSports.com.

Montana St. Billings 5, Central Washington 2 (Mar 16, 2014 at Ellensburg, WA)
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Montana St. Billings 002 030 0 -  5  4  3      (7-9, 2-5 GNAC)
Central Washington.. 001 001 0 -  2  4  0      (12-6, 5-2 GNAC)
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Pitchers: Montana St. Billings - MacDonald,Jessyka and Sanders,Brittney. Central Washington -
Gau,Maria and Wilkerson,Austin.
Win-MacDonald,Jessyka(3-2)  Loss-Gau,Maria(6-3)  T-1:34  A-0
HR MSUB - Everett,Samantha Jo.
Weather: 51 degF, cloudy, 24MPH NW
 
Central Washington 10, Montana St. Billings 7 (Mar 16, 2014 at Ellensburg, WA)
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Montana St. Billings 000 016 0 -  7 11  1      (7-10, 2-6 GNAC)
Central Washington.. 001 414 X - 10 17  1      (13-6, 6-2 GNAC)
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Pitchers: Montana St. Billings - Bywater,Mary Grace; Roark,Amanda(4); Todd,Amanda(6) and
Sanders,Brittney. Central Washington - Wood,Kiana; Egan,Alyssa(6) and Olague,Alexa;
Miracle,Jessi.
Win-Egan,Alyssa(1-1)  Loss-Roark,Amanda(1-1)  T-1:54  A-231
HR MSUB - Sanders,Brittney.