ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington rallied in the bottom of the sixth to stun the Saints and take both ends of the doubleheader, 11-6 and 10-7, in two critical games for the GNAC Championships.
 
Despite the Saints scoring 13 runs over the course of the two games, Central Washington managed to rally late in the second game to beat SMU twice. Sabrina Hicks and Tessani Dixon finished with three RBIs each and Lindsay Miller added two RBIs of her own.
 
The Wildcats (29-14, 17-9) jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first, scoring four runs. Central scored one on a RBI single, before a three run home run to straight away center highlighted the inning.
 
Saint Martin's (23-20, 13-13) responded right back in next half inning, starting with a Nicki DeHan double to left field, scoring Sabrina Hicks. Next batter, Lauren Diuco, singled to left field, driving home DeHan from second, trimming the score to 4-2.
 
Central Washington added one more in the bottom of the second to extend the lead to 5-2. In the top of the fourth, Lindsay Miller drove in the first run of the inning on a RBI single to center field. With the bases loaded and two outs, Kim Nelson tied the game with a single to shortstop, scoring two runs.
 
However, the Wildcats broke open the game in the bottom of the fifth, scoring six runs on four hits and two errors by the Saints. The Saints managed one more run on a RBI single by Tessani Dixon before CWU sealed the 11-6 victory.
 
Kim Nelson got the start, falling to 7-6 on the year after allowing six runs on six hits. Lindsay Miller pitched the final two innings of relief, giving up five runs, only two earned on four hits.
 
SMU got the early lead on Central Washington, starting with a RBI double down the left field line off the bat of Dixon. Hicks added a RBI single to right, bringing home Dixon later in the inning to put SMU up 2-0.
 
Hicks added another two RBIs in the fifth inning, with another single to right field, extending the lead to 4-0. Central Washington trimmed the lead to one in the bottom of the fifth with RBI singles.
 
Lindsay Miller came through with the bases loaded in the sixth, singling to left and scoring one. Dixon drove in another run in the inning with an infield single that barely stayed fair down the foul line. Nelson plated the seventh run of the game for the Saint with a sacrifice fly to center field.
 
Central Washington mounted a comeback in the bottom of the sixth, scoring seven runs on seven hits, and one error to rally to a 10-7 victory.
 
Lauren Maley (16-13) earned the loss, despite pitching five strong innings for the Saints, before the sixth inning rally. Kim Nelson was brought in to close out the final outs in the sixth.
 
The Saints have a chance for revenge, hosting Central tomorrow for the regular season finale starting at noon. Live stats and video of the games will be available with links on smusaints.com.