Western Washington University scored 27 runs and had 29 hits as it opened the fourth annual Montana State University Billings Desert Stinger Softball Tournament on Friday, Feb. 8, with two wins, defeating Fort Lewis College (Colo.) 18-2 in five innings and UC-Colorado Springs 9-2 at Las Vegas.
The Vikings, who improved to 5-5, were led by Alexie Levin and Jackie Rothenberger, who each had four hits, three runs scored and five runs batted in. Camille Depew also had four hits and scored five runs.
WWU set a school record for runs in one inning, scoring 14 in the top of the first inning against Fort Lewis. The Vikings had 12 hits in that explosion which lasted 30 minutes. There were also two walks, one wild pitch and three FLC errors.
The previous WWU record for runs in an inning was 11, accomplished twice in 2002.
It was the season opener for Fort Lewis, which won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament and reached the NCAA Division II playoffs last year. The Skyhawks scored their two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
WWU scored 11 runs before the first out was recorded in the first, sending 18 batters to the plate. Levin opened the scoring with a two-run double. She finished 2 for 3 with three RBI and two runs scored.
Levin allowed just two singles in three innings pitched, recording her second win in four decisions.
WWU's 18 runs was one shy of the school record set in 2002 against Central Washington and the Vikings' 19 hits were two short of the school mark set in 2009 versus Northwest Nazarene.
Also having two hits for WWU, besides Levin, were Kristen Allen, Jordan Walley, Rothenberger, Haylee Baker and Meghan Carrillo.
In the second, Walley hit her second home run of the season, a solo shot over the centerfield fence. The Vikings also scored three runs in the fifth.
Against UCCS, which fell to 4-1-1, Depew had three hits and three runs scored, hitting her second home run of the campaign in the third. Rothenberger had two doubles, driving in one run and scoring another in WWU's two-run fourth and plating two runs in the Vikings' three-run seventh. Levin also had two hits, driving in one of two runs in the first and doubling home a run in the fifth.
WWU's Jenna DeRosier pitched a complete game in upping her record to 3-1. She scattered nine hits, allowing runs in the third and sixth innings.
