RICHLAND, Wash. - The Eastern Oregon University softball team exploded for 13 hits in a five-inning rout over Northwest Christian before going wire-to-wire with No. 17 Corban on day one of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Crossover on Saturday afternoon.

GAME ONE

EOU 10, Northwest Christian 1 (Five Innings)

In its CCC Crossover debut, EOU launched four homers and tallied 13 hits en route to taking care of Northwest Christian (NCU) in five innings, 10-1.

Both senior first baseman Marisa Gonzalez and sophomore second baseman Maryssa Santi batted 3-for-3 and homered for the Mountaineers, while senior center fielder Shelby Baertsch recorded two hits and a solo home run. In addition, junior third baseman Jorden Gerlach homered and mustered two RBI.

In the circle, junior pitcher Haylie Van Laethem registered four strikeouts and forced seven groundouts in the winning effort. She confined the Beacons to only two hits on the day.

EOU posted eight hits and seven runs in the opening two frames to pull away early. Leading 3-1 in the bottom of the second, Gonzalez smashed a three-run homer, and then Baertsch followed with a solo bomb to extend the Mountaineers' advantage to six.

Van Laethem held NCU without a hit in the final two stanzas, and both Santi and Gerlach sent balls out of the park in the fourth inning to seal the 10-1 victory.

GAME TWO

No. 17 Corban 5, EOU 3

The Mountaineers took No. 17 Corban to the edge and had a chance to rally in the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs, but the Warriors managed to escape the jam and pull out the two-run victory.

Both teams racked up eight hits on the day, as senior shortstop Haley Hess and junior left fielder Taylor Turner paced EOU with two hits apiece.

Sophomore pitcher Hailey Kline tossed a complete game and picked up four strikeouts in the losing effort.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the second, EOU cut the deficit to one (2-1) after Hess launched a two-out single to plate Santi who reached on a single as well.

After Kline escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, the Mountaineers knotted the tight affair at two apiece thanks to an RBI groundout by Gonzalez.

Corban bounced back in the top of the seventh with a three-run homer, and EOU proceeded to juice the bases in the bottom half with no outs. Junior designated player Lauren Burchak picked up a fielder's choice RBI to pull EOU to within two (5-3), but Corban snuck its way out of the frame and collected the final out of the contest.

UP NEXT

EOU concludes its journey at the CCC Crossover tomorrow against NCU (12 p.m.) and Corban (2 p.m.)