VANCOUVER – The Thunderbirds (25-19, 14-9) put forth a clinical defensive effort against Bushnell (6-33, 3-20) in Friday's doubleheader, allowing zero runs and just eight baserunners across 12 innings of play.
 
UBC head coach Jennifer McKellar was very pleased with her team's group effort in the 8-0 and 3-0 victories at Collings Field.
 
"We have relied on our defence to be very clean, and our pitchers to let the offence of the other team hit into our defence, and I think this was a great example," she said. "I think our defence fuels our offence, including our pitchers and catchers."
 
The offensive effort was exceedingly well-balanced, with the T-Birds' 13 hits on the day coming from nine different players. While they scored 11 runs in total, they did so with only one player in each of the two games having multiple hits – Mattea Burrill in the first and Zoe Willington in the second.


 
"They're such a focused group, and we've been working on some different things for the last couple weeks," added McKellar. "So to get to see the girls have some of their hard work pay off, and the changes get rewarded, I think is part of what helps ingrain in them that it's a process to hit the ball well and that they've got to stick to it."
 
For the Beacons, Riley Peter had a strong day at the plate as she hit 2-4 across the two games. Violet Richardson was great on the mound as she came in for the final inning of the first game before throwing the entire second, allowing five hits and three runs, all of them unearned.
 
 
GAME ONE
 
The Thunderbirds opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, when a leadoff double from Brielle Donoghue was soon followed by Jessica Heutink lasering the ball into the outfield to bring her home.
 
Heutink then scored herself after UBC loaded the bases with Burrill hitting an RBI single of her own, followed by a two-run hit by first-year Lauren Hounsell – giving the Surrey native her first multi-RBI performance of her career.


 
The T-Birds proceeded to capitalize on some Bushnell miscues in the third to extend their lead further. With the bases loaded once again, Hounsell chopped the ball to third base. The Beacons tried to go for the force out at home, but a dropped ball allowed Tegan Harnett to score to make it 5-0.
 
A wild pitch then scored another UBC run, before Clare VanSpall smacked a two-RBI single to left field to give the home team enough on the scoreboard to force a mercy rule finish.
 
Carleen Murray was lights out on the mound, allowing just one hit and one hit-by-pitch walk in four innings of work. Mila Anderson then closed things out in the fifth, only allowing a late double to Claire Wright.
 

 
GAME TWO
 
The second game of the day was a pitcher's duel, with Richardson and Brynn Fortier going head-to-head. Fortier turned in perhaps the best performance of her UBC career to date, allowing just four hits and a walk in a complete game shutout. She also recorded a career-best 12 strikeouts, getting at least one in each inning.
 
Richardson did a great job of keeping pace on the mound for the Beacons, allowing just two hits in the first four innings as neither team could get much of anything going offensively. That all changed in the fifth, however, as UBC were the beneficiaries of an avalanche of errors by the visitors that allowed them to score three runs while recording just one hit in the process.
 
After Willington came home following a misplayed attempt to catch Claire Hill stealing second, Hill scored herself on a passed ball just two batters later. Hounsell later made it 3-0 following an error by the Beacons' infield on a ball hit by VanSpall, giving UBC the run support they needed to close out the game.


 
The two teams will face off in another doubleheader on Saturday, one that carries some extra significance for the Thunderbirds as they will celebrate their Senior Day to close out the regular season. They'll also be aiming to earn just their second series sweep of the year, with the first coming against Corban in the first conference series of 2026 back at the end of February.
 
"We're just going to stay really hungry," said McKellar on what her team's mindset needs to be for Saturday's action. "We're going to talk about how much we want it and what we can control in our dugout. Like I've said before, every weekend in the Cascade is a grind, every team wants to win, so we have to come hungrier for what it means for us and our dugout and our seniors, going into the postseason."
 
First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. (PT) at Collings Field.