Lutes Continue Offensive Onslaught Against NWC
SPOKANE - Another doubleheader, another offensive outburst as Pacific Lutheran swept two games from host Whitworth on Saturday afternoon to maintain its lead in the Northwest Conference softball standings.
The Lutes downed the Pirates 10-1 in five innings and 10-2 in six innings at Diana Marks Field. In addition to remaining atop the conference standings, the Lutes, 13-4 overall, 12-1 in the conference, put an end to a six-game conference winning streak for the Pirates, 8-12 overall and 6-6 in the conference.
Game 1 - Pacific Lutheran 10, Whitworth 1 (5 innings)
Stacy Hagensen threw a five-inning two-hitter and also drove in three runs at the plate to lead the Lutes to victory. Amanda Goings sparked PLU from her leadoff position, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
The Lutes led 2-1 before breaking loose with five runs in the fourth, two of those runs coming home on a a single by Kaaren Hatlen. In the fifth, Hagensen's bases-clearing double gave PLU the eight-run lead. The Lutes scored their 10 runs on only seven hits. Whitworth pitchers Emily Anderson and Jessica Mangis walked five batters and hit four others.
Hagensen gave up only two hits, including Jamie Brunner's RBI single in the third inning, to improve to 9-1 this season. She walked three and struck out one. Anderson, now 5-4, took the loss in the circle for the Pirates.
Game 2 - PLU 10, Whitworth 2 (6 innings)
Julia Johnson hit her fifth home run of the season in the second inning to give Whitworth an early 2-1 lead, but that was all the Pirates would score against Hatlen, PLU's pitcher in the nightcap. The Lutes got five runs in the fifth to blow the game open.
Lindsey Matsunaga went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, while Hatlen helped her own cause with two RBIs and two runs scored in two official at-bats. Hatlen's homer off the scoreboard in the third inning, her third of the season, gave PLU a 3-2 lead. In the five-run fifth, Katie Bologna had a two runs single and Matsunaga added a two-run double.
Hatlen, 4-1 this season, allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits in her six-inning complete-game win. She struck out five and didn't walk a batter. Jessica Dickson, 1-2, went the whole way for Whitworth, giving up eight earned runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
PLU and Whitworth will complete the Northwest Conference series with a second doubleheader on Sunday.
(Courtesy of Whitworth Sports Information Office.)
