TEMPE, Ariz. -Western Michigan softball held a one-run lead in the sixth inning against Northwestern but the Broncos fell, 5-4, to the Wildcats at the Kajikawa Classic on Saturday night. WMU busted out for six runs in am 8-6 loss to Cal-State Northridge earlier in the day.
Western Michigan's offense came alive in the first two innings of the Broncos' loss to Cal-State Northridge. WMU posted a run in the top of the first and five more in the top of the second to take a 6-0 lead before the Matadors erased the deficit with a seven-run effort in the home half of the second.
Courtney Rousseau started things off with a one-out single in the first. Gracie Barstad reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on an illegal pitch. Lexi Jager drove in her first run of the 2011 season with a double to left center field, scoring Barstad.
Back-to-back-to-back base hits by Christina Pigozzi, Diana Patterson and Jennifer Tschetter got the ball rolling for WMU in the second inning. Patterson's single brought in Michelle Bendewald who had reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning. Tschetter's suicide squeeze brought Pigozzi home and Rousseau brought home Patterson on her second hit of the game. Both she and Barstad collected two hits against Cal-State Northride, going 2-for-3 and 2-for-4, respectively.
The Matadors scored their first run on an illegal pitch by starter Meredithy Whitney. Whitney worked only one and a third inning before Kayla Houston relieved her with one out in the second. CS-Northeridge used three hits to score the next six runs to take a 7-6 lead. Northridge used a pair of singles sandwiched around a hit batter to tack on its eighth and final run.
Western Michigan had a runner in scoring position in each of the next four innings, even getting two into scoring position in the top of the third but stranded the tying run at second base. A Bronco reached second in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, including a double by Bendewald to lead off the fifth, but WMU could never get that runner across home plate or get a second runner in on the base paths to threaten tying the game.
In the nightcap, WMU jumped out to a 4-3 lead on the strength of a Lexi Jager home run. The senior went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and the two RBI off the home run. Northwestern scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and the Broncos went down in order in the seventh. WMU closes out the tournament against No. 6/9 Oklahoma on Sunday.
