Five days after completing a four-game sweep of Simon Fraser, the Saint Martin’s softball team, the top seed in the GNAC Tournament, fell to the Red Leafs 5-4 in the first round of the tournament Thursday in Ellensburg.
The Saints held a 3-0 lead after Shelby Lawson’s RBI single and Jennessy Lopez’s two-run double, both in the third inning. Simon Fraser’s Cassidy Affeldt crushed a grand slam to right field to give the Red Leafs the lead in the fifth inning, and Hannah Houts added a run on an error by the Saints, one of four errors in the inning.
In the sixth, Faith Prosch’s single and an error by Simon Fraser allowed Olivianna Trinidad to score. Saint Martin’s left a runner in scoring position in the sixth and the seventh innings but couldn’t bring the tying run home.
Kayla Vaughan pitched four innings and gave up four runs (two earned) on five hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Amanda Peterson came out of the bullpen and allowed just one unearned run on one hit, striking out one.
The Saints (33-18, 18-6 GNAC) now fall to the elimination bracket and will face No. 3 seed Northwest Nazarene Friday afternoon, with the winner moving on to another elimination game later that day.
