McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Kaaren Hatlen hit her eighth homer of the year in support of Stacey Hagensen, who picked up her 20th victory of the season as Pacific Lutheran beat Whitworth, 3-0, in a first round game played Friday afternoon at the Northwest Conference softball tournament.

With the victory, the Lutes (30-11) advance to a Friday night winner's bracket game against No. 1-ranked Linfield (39-2), the NWC regular season champion, which took a 4-2 victory over Willamette in the tournament opener. Whitworth (19-18) and Willamette (19-18) meet in a loser out game late Friday afternoon.

Hatlen hit a two-run homer over the center field fence to open the scoring in the bottom of the first. Both runs were unearned after a two-out error opened the door for Hatlen's bomb. Whitworth had wasted a scoring opportunity in the top of the inning, loading the bases on a single and two walks before a pop up ended the rally.

The Lutes added another run in the bottom of the third when Amanda Goings hit a leadoff single and eventually scored on a run-scoring single by Hagensen.

Between the second and sixth innings, the Pirates had only two baserunners, one on a single and the other on an error. They mounted a scoring threat in the final inning, collecting three hits, but one runner was thrown out on the bases, and the game ended when Sami Parr lined out to Hagensen.

The complete-game performance was the 17th of the season for Hagensen, who has a 20-4 record. She fanned four batters and walked two while surrendering just five hits.

For the Pirates, Emily Anderson pitched six solid innings, giving up seven hits and one earned run.

Offensively, Hatlen went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and Goings was 2-for-3 with one run scored. The Pirates got one hit each from five different players.

- PLU -