KIRKLAND, Wash. – Talk about your no-hitter the hard way. Northwest Christian University senior Jill Suratt got just that on Friday afternoon, picking up an unofficial no-hitter against Northwest despite getting drilled in the face and breaking her nose on a come-back smash. The Beacons went on to sweep the double header from the Eagles, 4-3 and 2-1.
 
Suratt was cruising in game one and after NCU scored two in the first and two in the third, she was staked to a big lead as they headed to the bottom of the third. Leading off the inning, senior first baseman Bethany Bay smacked a pitch right back at Suratt. With no time to react, Suratt was hit in the nose by the ball. She was hit so hard, in fact, that the ball careened all the way to Kaeli Massetto who collected the ball and stepped on the bag at first before Bay was even half way down the line.
 
At her insistence, Suratt stayed in the game and threw the next two innings allowing just a walk. Head Coach Julie Strand said, "The trainer came out and said she couldn't make things any worse and she was adamant about staying in. She just wanted to be in there for her team."
 
With NCU holding the 4-0 lead, Suratt was pulled in the fifth inning for sophomore Breanne Johnson. Johnson immediately got into some trouble as the Eagles broke up the no-hitter with a solo home run, a walk, and a two-run blast that made it 4-3, still with all three outs remaining in the inning.
 
Strand then called upon Suratt to finish what she started and the senior proceeded to retire nine of the final eleven batters she faced closing out the 4-3 Beacon victory.
 
Suratt (4-7) finished the game officially with seven innings of work, allowing no hits while striking out six batters. She also went 2-for-4 at the plate as did both Ashlee Cole and Parker Bonife.
 
Katie Walker (4-9) went to work in game two, continuing the strong pitching effort as she went the distance for a five-hit victory. Walker gave up a run in the bottom of the seventh inning but hung on for the complete game victory as she struck out three batters. Strand said, "I was really happy with how Katie through. She was working the strike zone and working to exploit the weaknesses of the Northwest hitters. She stayed ahead of the count and had some solid defense behind her."
 
NCU scored both of their runs in the top of the fifth inning on a two-RBI single from Randi Kostner, scoring Bonife and Taylor Medley.
 
The Beacons posted six hits as a team in the second game, led by Cole's 2-for-2 performance. The freshman ended her day going 4-for-6 at the dish.
 
"I'm really happy with how we battled at the plate today," said Coach Strand. "We were able to work the count and foul off a lot of pitches. We made their pitchers throw a lot of pitches when really helps us be successful. We played with passion and grit today. We grinded and we were aggressive."