Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 LACEY, Wash. – It was billed as a battle for first place, with Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene entering the series tied for first. The Saints settled the debate on Friday with a doubleheader sweep, highlighted by a walk-off home run from Kekai Schultz.
 
In the opening game, Abby Runyon, and Chloe Leverington combined to throw a shutout against the high-flying Nighthawks' offense. The two limited NNU to only two hits on the day, punching out four batters.
 
The Saints' lone run of the game came in the bottom of the first. Britney Patrick singled down the right field line, sending Vanessa Smoke to third from first. Patrick baited the Nighthawks into a throw at first to try and double her up, leading to the ball being thrown away. On the error, Smoke came home to score, and the Saints' pitching had all the run support they needed.
 
Runyon went the opening three innings and faced two batters in the fourth before Leverington was brought in. The freshman inherited runners on first and second with no outs. The righty worked out of the jam after a walk with an infield fly, a strikeout, and a foul out to first. Leverington struck out two in the fifth, retired all three in the sixth, and closed the door in the seventh in order.
 
Saint Martin's once again opened the scoring up with a run in the first inning of the second game. A bases-loaded hit-by-pitch drawn by Olivia Schmidt scored the run.
 
A wild pitch by NNU in the fourth put the second run of the game on the board for SMU. However, the Nighthawks managed to get their first offense of the day in the fifth, scoring three runs to take the lead.
 
Saint Martin's responded right back when Schultz delivered a clutch pinch-hit single to left center, scoring Patrick and tying the game. The score remained knotted at 3-3 until the bottom of the seventh.
 
Patrick led off with a long single in the right center gap. After a foul out to first, Schultz once again stepped to the plate. Jumping on a high fastball, Schultz tomahawked the ball to left, easily leaving the park, and sending the Saints off with a 5-3 walk-off victory.
 
Tia Ridings got the start in game two, going four innings, allowing one run on four hits, with five strikeouts. Leverington pitched the final three innings, and earned her second victory of the day, and 10th of the season.
 
The Saints and Nighthawks square off one final time on Saturday at noon with senior day activities proceeding first pitch for the Saints. Live stats and video of the games will be available on smusaints.com.