NIC opens with two wins

SPOKANE — North Idaho College got off to a strong start Friday at the Northwest Athletic Conference softball championships, as the 11th-seeded Cardinals beat No. 6 Bellevue 4-0 and No. 3 Wenatchee Valley 7-2 at the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex.

NIC (31-15) will face No. 7 Walla Walla (29-13) in a quarterfinal matchup today at 12:30 p.m.

Kayla Moore pitched a four-hit shutout for NIC vs. Bellevue. Kennedy Anderson had an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI double in the second. Jamie Yurick hit a solo homer in the seventh.

Kennedy hit a solo homer in the first inning vs. Wenatchee Valley (33-11), the East Region champions, and Megan Carver and Nikki Miller each drove in a pair of runs.

Walla Walla, which finished second in the East, one spot ahead of NIC, beat No. 10 Lower Columbia 3-2 and No. 15 Mt. Hood 8-0 on Friday.

NIC 4, BELLEVUE 0

NIC 120 000 1 — 4 9 1

Bellevue 000 000 0 — 0 4 5

Kayla Moore and Nikke Miller; P. Gibbs and M. Fusco. W — Moore (15-13). L — Gibbs (20-6).

HITS: NIC — Schaller 2, Anderson 2, Miller, Yurick 2, Raynor, Aspden. Bel — Johnson, Attwood, Gibbs, Ochoa. 2B — Schaller, Anderson, Attwood. 3B — Ochoa. HR — Yurick (5).

NIC 7, WENATCHEE VALLEY 2

NIC 205 000 0 — 7 11 0

WVC 000 002 0 — 2 8 2

Kayla Moore and Nikki Miller; A. Enriquez and A. Writer. W — Moore (16-13). L — Enriquez (11-4).

HITS: NIC — Schaller, Curtan, Anderson 2, Carver 2, Miller 2, Korok, Raynor, Aspden. WVC — Howard 2, A. Writer, B. Writer, Enriquez 2. 2B — Curtan, Miller, Raynor, Aspden, Howard. HR — Anderson (15).