Northwest Nazarene stays alive, advances to regional final

The Nighthawks will look to advance to the NCAA Division II Super Regional on Saturday afternoon.

Matching up with Saint Martin’s for the second time in the tournament Friday afternoon, Northwest Nazarene took care of business with a 7-3 win. Five of their seven runs came in the fifth and sixth innings to put the game to rest. Emma Mulligan highlighted the scoring with a two-run home run in the fifth inning. She had three hits and three RBI in the game.

The win sends the Nighthawks (41-11) to the regional championship against the No. 6 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills (37-19), who they lost to earlier in the tournament. The game is set for 1:30 p.m. If Northwest Nazarene wins, then another game will be played later Saturday at 4 p.m. since the Toros have won both of their tournament games.

Northwest Nazarene defeated Saint Martin’s in their first tournament game Thursday in walk-off fashion. Sidney Booth delivered with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning, winning 3-2. Booth had three hits in the game as well as pitching 6 ⅓ innings with no earned runs.

In the next round against Cal State Dominguez Hills in their first game Friday, the Nighthawks lost 2-0. Mariah Ramirez went the distance for the Toros in the pitching circle, striking out 10 and holding Northwest Nazarene to three hits.

Kianna Abellera hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning and Jay Ross had an RBI single in the seventh to score the runs for the Toros.