Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SENATOBIA - After coming up on the right end of a scoring bonanza against National Park College in Game 1, Northwest brought out the bats once more in the nightcap, earning a 14-11 and 11-4 sweep against the Nighthawks on Tuesday afternoon.

Northwest finished with six home runs on the day, highlighted by two from freshman McKaylee Polk, including a grand slam in her first at-bat. Sophomore Molly Harris also earned two homers, while fellow sophomores Maddie Brower and Saige Koczka collected one apiece.

Northwest will take a two-week break before resuming competition in the Northeast TigerFest against Calhoun, Harford and preseason No. 11 Three Rivers College. All games will be played in Booneville from February 15-16.


Game 1 - Northwest 14, National Park College 11

Trailing 8-6 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, Northwest broke the game open with an eight-run frame and held off another rally from NPC to earn the season-opening victory.

After escaping the top of the first inning with no runs allowed, the Rangers got on the scoreboard in a major way, as Polk blasted a grand slam to give Northwest a quick 4-0 lead.

However, the Nighthawks proved that this would be anything but a blowout, as a three-run frame in the top of the second brought the visitors within a run.

Though Kaitlyn Bednarek's RBI-double pushed another run across for Northwest in the third, Shelbee LeJeune tied the game up at 5-5 for the Nighthawks in the following frame.

An error allowed Northwest to regain a 6-5 advantage in the bottom of the fourth, only for National Park to jump back ahead with RBI base hits in the fifth and sixth innings.

Fortunes shifted back in favor of the Rangers in the bottom of the sixth, as Koczka reached base on a leadoff single, followed by an RBI-double from Brower. Harris followed with a two-run bomb in the next at-bat, pushing Northwest back on top, 9-8.

Northwest was far from finished, however. After a pitching change for National Park, Polk teed off on her second home run of the game, a solo shot to left field that made it a 10-8 lead.

Laila Armstrong would then bring in a pair of runs with her RBI-double, before the Rangers finally closed the inning with an error and a sac fly to widen the gap to 14-8.

Two walks would pave the way for LeJeune homer in the top of the seventh, but the additional three runs did little to dampen the Rangers' momentum, as Northwest held on for the three-run victory.

Polk made an undeniable splash in her freshman debut, finishing 4-for-4 at the plate with five RBIs. Bednarek also went 3-for-4, while Armstrong and Brower came away with two hits apiece to help Northwest to 14 total hits.

In the circle, freshman Kylee Brown also picked up her first collegiate victory, tossing a pair of strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Meagan Allen also struck out a pair of batters in the initial 3.1 innings.

For National Park, Jadyn Hart pitched five innings for the Nighthawks and allowed nine earned runs with one strikeout. LeJeune, Hart and Kya Schmidt also led NPC with two hits apiece.


Game 2 - Northwest 11, National Park College 4

A solid fourth inning helped Northwest pull away from National Park in the nightcap, as the Rangers plated four runs and followed with one each in the fifth and sixth innings to earn the sweep.

Koczka helped Northwest deliver the first blow in the bottom of the first, teeing off on a two-run shot to right field for her first homer of the season. (The Southaven native, NJCAA/NFCA All-American and Memphis commit already holds the Rangers' career home run record with 15 bombs.)

National Park scratched across a run in the top of the second, but the Rangers countered with a run in the bottom of the frame, thanks to a groundout from Meredith Owen that allowed Bednarek to score from third.

Julie Johnson's two-run homer in the top of the third helped the Nighthawks tie the game at 3-3, but back-to-back homers from Brower and Harris in the bottom of the frame helped Northwest create some breathing room with a 5-3 advantage.

A quick RBI-double from Emma Hayes in the top of the fourth gave National Park its fourth and final run, as the bottom half of the inning belonged to the Rangers. Owen kicked things off with a one-out single, followed by a two-run double from Koczka and an RBI-single from Brower. Harris' grounder would then make it a 9-4 lead for Northwest.

Northwest tacked on a pair of runs over the final two innings, starting with Bailey Russell's RBI-single to left in the fifth and Polk's RBI-single in the sixth. From there, Randi Johnson shut the door in a relief outing, dishing out a strikeout to help squash any shot of a rally.

Northwest hammered out 12 hits in the nightcap, led by two apiece from Brower, Harris and Koczka, while Koczka also tallied four RBIs. In the circle, freshman Gabby Dickerson lasted six innings for the victory, striking out six batters against four walks.

National Park was limited to just five hits in the loss, led by two from Hayes. Kacey Solida was handed the loss after allowing four earned runs in 2.1 frames.