EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University softball team concluded their 2018 home schedule on Saturday afternoon, taking two games from the College of Idaho Coyotes by finals of 6-5 and 8-6 to finish the weekend 3-1.
 
The Beacons honored seniors Ereanna Higbee, Kelsey Hansen, Caitlyn Messman, and Madi Novelli during the intermission following game one, with all four impacting the game two come-from-behind victory.
 
Junior Jessica Garner continued her record-breaking season for the Beacons, breaking the programs single-season hit record of 47 set by Tina Houtz during the 2001 campaign. Garner finished the day 5-for-6, raising her batting average to .374, with six runs scored and four stolen bases.
 
Game One: Northwest Christian University 6, College of Idaho 5

The opener featured a combined 11 runs and 19 hits, with both teams plating runners in four separate innings. The Yotes got on the board first with a pair of doubles in the top half of the first inning. Kylie Smith doubled to right field from the two spot, with Jordan Maddox driving her in on a line drive double of her own to right-center.
 
The Beacons answered in the bottom half of the inning when Garner lead off with a single, swiped second, advanced to third on a Tra Kucera sacrifice and scored on a sac fly to deep center off the bat of Alyssa Gayle.
 
CI scored again in the second when Delaney Atkins came around on a single to left field from catcher Taylor Eakle. The Beacons tied it up in the third with Kucera driving Garner in with a single up the middle.
 
CI jumped ahead again in the fifth inning with Smith and Maddox both driving in their second runs of the game with singles to the left field. NCU answered yet again with Gayle driving in two runs on a fielder's choice that never left the infield. The play plated Garner, who was on third, as well as Novelli who hustled around from second to slide around the tag of Eakle.
 
Smith put the Yotes out front in the top of sixth with a two-out infield single over the outstretched arm of Gayle. Making her impact for the second game in a row, freshman Anna Cardwell put the Beacons back on top for good in the bottom half of the inning, driving a fastball to centerfield to score Higbee and Emma Jegtvig.
 
Gayle went the distance for the Beacons, striking out four as she picked up her fifth win of the season.
 
Game Two: Northwest Christian University 8, College of Idaho 6
 
With the CCC-series win already in hand, the Beacons made it a 3-1 weekend with another come-from-behind victory in the nightcap.
 
Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth, NCU opened with a walk for Novelli who moved to third on a single from Cardwell. Messman then laid down a sacrifice which the shortstop couldn't handle, as Novelli came around to score on a heads up play to tie the game
 
Garner followed with an RBI single that brought home Cardwell with the go-ahead run. After Rene Brabham produced an infield single, Gayle came up and promptly drove a ball to left-center field, scoring two more insurance runs.
 
With the pair of RBI, Gayle moved her total to 37 on the season, tying the school record.
 
Jegtvig (4-13) tossed the first six innings for the Beacons and picked up her second win of the weekend as she stuck out four batters. Alyssa Gayle allowed one run in the seventh, a homer for Marissa Maddox, but retired the final three batters to pick up her first career save.

NCU will be back in action next weekend as they close out the season in Canada, facing off against the University of British Columbia. The College of Idaho returns home and looks to grab one of the final two playoff spots as they take on Providence.