This past weekend, the SFU Women’s Softball team opened up GNAC Conference Play with a home-and-home set of double headers against rival Western Washington Vikings. The Clan dropped the first two on the road 7–1 and 10–5 in Bellingham Washington. In Sunday’s home contests, the Clan fell 7–3 in a rain delayed opener before prevailing 7–1 in the nightcap of the doubleheader.
Despite the weather, there was a strong crowd on hand to support the home squad. In the second game, Center Fielder Taylor Gillis staked the Clan to a 2–1 lead in the second inning on a two-run double. Gillis would finish with 3 RBIs on the day. In the fourth inning, first baseman Nicole Ratel jacked a two-run home run to push the lead to 5–1. Alia Stachoski struck out seven, scattered six hits, and yielded just one run in a complete game gem. The win broke a 12-game losing streak against Western Washington.
Coach Mike Renney commented on the weekend action, noting that “Western has had our number for the past couple of years, and as our Conference’s preseason number one pick to win it all, we knew we were in tough to open with them in a Home and Home series.
“So, while we would have liked to have split the series, it was good to see the athlete’s character in bouncing back from three straight losses. It was also good to see that we competed in each game even though we came out on the losing end of the score, but for a couple of breaks we could have easily had different results.”
Renney previewed the upcoming games to take place this season, stating that, “having played this past weekend in our home opener, I am hopeful that the home field jitters are behind us and we can get down to business [. . .] we will continue to work on one of our team’s biggest weaknesses thus far and that is our responding to adversity; be it an opponent’s big hit, an error from our defense, or missed opportunities with baserunners.
“In our first three games versus Western Washington, after something bad occurred, we tended to lose focus resulting in us giving up runs; in our last game we responded much better, but still as a young team we have work to do.”
The Clan’s next game is on Wednesday against UBC. Their next home game will be March 19th with a double header against the Western Oregon Wolves, with the first game taking place at 1 p.m.
