The Simon Fraser University Clan women’s softball team will host a key doubleheader against Saint Martin’s University on Saturday at Beedie Field in Burnaby that could determine their fate in making the Great Northwest Athletic Conference playoffs.
The Clan slipped to fourth place in the standings after losing three of four games against Northwest Nazarene University last weekend in Nampa, ID. The Saints are nipping at their heels in fifth place.
Port Coquitlam pitcher Alia Stachoski was on the short end of two of the Clan’s losses to the Nighthawks.
Saturday, she gave up five runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings as the Clan dropped the back end of their doubleheader to NNU, 8-2. They had already lost the first game, 3-0.
Stachoski surrendered three runs in the bottom of the third inning — two of them unearned. But the signs of trouble started in the second when Nighthawks batters hit three consecutive singles with two out. But she was able to escape the threat when NNU’s Lauren Bassett grounded out to third to end the inning.
After Nighthawks starter Rae Young retired the side in the Clan’s half of the third inning, Stachoski gave up another hit to the first batter she faced in the bottom of the inning. Cassidy Fifield then stole second and advanced to third when Anna Williams singled to left field but was thrown out at second base trying to stretch her hit to a double.
A pitch by Stachoski that hit Nighthawks’ batter Kylie Orr put a second runner on base and both scored when SFU shortstop Taylor Lundrigan committed an error on a hit by NNU’s Lisa Sylvester who reached second base on the play. She also scored on a hit by Shelbi Martinez.
The Clan managed to get two of those runs back in the top of the fourth inning, but when the Nighthawks put two more runs across the plate in their half of the fourth, Stachoski’s day was done.
NNU batters weren’t though, as Fifield hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to complete the scoring.
The loss was Stachoski’s eighth of the season as she had also dropped an 8-7 decision to the Nighthawks in the second game of their doubleheader last Friday after giving up five runs in the first inning.
NNU added another run in the bottom of the second inning and Stachoski was eventually pulled from the game before the bottom of the fourth with the Clan trailing 6-1. They were down 8-1 when SFU’s bats finally came alive in their half of the sixth inning as they scored six times on six hits and two errors. But it just wasn’t enough.
SFU had won the first game, 2-1 to climb as high as second place in the conference.
“It will be good to put our longest bus trip of the year behind us,” said SFU coach Mike Renney.
• The first game of SFU’s doubleheader against St. Martin’s University is at 1 p.m. The second game is scheduled for 3 p.m.
The Clan will also host Central Washington University for another doubleheader, Sunday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., at Beedie Field.
