FOREST GROVE, Ore. - Pacific Lutheran secured its hold on second place in the Northwest Conference softball standings Sunday afternoon by sweeping a road doubleheader from the Pacific Boxers at Sherman/Larkins Stadium.
PLU improved its overall record to 15-7 and its NWC mark to 14-4 with 12-7 and 8-0 victories over the Boxers, who are now 20-10 overall and 10-8 in the conference.
With 10 regular season games remaining, the Lutes trail only No. 1-ranked Linfield, which sits atop the NWC standings with a 16-1 record. Willamette is in third place at 10-7, followed by Whitworth at 9-7 and Pacific at 10-8. The top four teams in the regular season standings advance to the NWC postseason tournament.
The Lutes pounded out 10 hits and also took advantage of five Pacific errors to take the 12-7 first-game win. They scored two runs in the first inning and tacked on nine more in the second, then held off a rally by the Boxers.
Kaaren Hatlen had a run-scoring double and Katie Lowery hit a sacrifice fly for the first two runs, and the second inning explosion featured five hits, three walks and three Pacific errors. Ami Gran hit a two-run single, and Amanda Goings, Kaely Cuthill and Lindsey Matsunaga all had run-scoring hits during the frame.
The Lutes added their final run in the fourth on a RBI single by Goings.
Pacific scored two runs in the fourth, four in the fifth and one more in the sixth, collecting a total of nine hits against a pair of PLU pitchers. Stacey Hagensen improved her season record to 10-2, giving up two runs, one earned, in 5 2/3 innings of work. She allowed five hits and no walks and struck out four. Ally VanSchoorl pitched the final 1 1/3 innings.
Goings had two hits, scored two runs and drove in three, while Gran finished with two hits, two runs and two RBI. Cuthill had a pair of singles and scored twice.
In the second game, Hatlen overcame a shaky PLU defense that committed four errors. She allowed only four hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out five to improve her record to 5-2.
Hatlen drove in the Lutes' first run of the game, hitting a two-out RBI double in the first, and she made that run stand up until the rest of the team joined in by scoring three runs in the sixth and four more times in the seventh.
Haley Harshaw hit a run-scoring single in the sixth, and after Gran walked, Goings drilled a two-out triple to make it 4-0 in favor of the Lutes. An inning later, Hagensen and Hatlen drew walks and then each stole a base. It didn't matter what base they were on, however, when Katie Lowery launched a three-run homer. After a walk to Harshaw and a single by Gran, Goings drove in Harshaw with a base hit.
The Lutes finished the game with 10 hits, including three by Goings and two my Glenelle Nitta. Goings and Lowery both collected three RBI during the game.
The schedule ramps up for the Lutes, who have already hopped on an airplane for a trip to Southern California where they will play four non-conference opponents on consecutive days starting Monday. PLU will face La Verne, Cal Lutheran, Chapman and Redlands, before flying back to the Pacific Northwest for a day off before facing conference foes George Fox and Lewis & Clark on back-to-back days.
By the time it's all said an done, PLU will have played 20 straight road games before their final home doubleheader on April 16 against Puget Sound.
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