Pacific Lutheran scored two sixth-inning runs to win the opener, 8-6, before breaking out the big lumber and walking away with a 10-0 victory in five innings in a Northwest Conference softball doubleheader sweep of Willamette on Sunday at the PLU field.
The Lutes improved their overall record to 25-13 while at the same time wrapping up second place in the conference regular season standings. They still have two games to play against conference regular season champion Linfield. Those game, not completed as originally scheduled on Saturday because of rain and field conditions, will be finished on Monday at a time to be announced.
With the losses, Willamette is now 14-22 overall and 10-16 in the conference. The Bearcats still have two NWC games remaining as they will travel to Spokane to face Whitworth on Tuesday afternoon.
Game One - PLU 8, Willamette 6
After two quick scoreless innings to start, the teams exchanged the lead several times by putting up lots of runs in the middle innings. Willamette scored two in the third and was matched by PLU, then added a run in the top of the third only to see the Lutes score three in the bottom of the frame to take a 5-3 lead. The Bearcats answered with three of their own in the top of the fifth for a 6-5 lead, but the Lutes got that one back in the fifth before scoring the decisive runs in the bottom of the sixth.
A one-out fielding error put Montessa Califano on first base, she promptly stole second and then went to third on a bunt single by Melissa Harrelson. Amanda Hall, PLU's No. 3 hitter, put down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt, and the throw to first was misplayed, allowing Harrelson to score all the way from first base.
Willamette had one last rally in the seventh as Kelli Snyder and Courtney Galli both hit singles and Heather Winslow walked to load the bases. With two outs, Yvonne Drabin drilled a ground ball into right field where Harrelson charged and threw Drabin out at first to finish the game.
The game was a hitfest as the Bearcats finished with 13 and the Lutes with 12. For Willamette, Snyder was 3-for-4, while Galli, Drabin and Allison Martin all had a pair of hits. Amanda Fernandes drove in two runs to lead the Bearcats in that category. For PLU, Harrelson, Hall, Lindsey Matsunaga and Katie Lowery all had two hits. Califano drove in two runs and Lowery scored two and drove in two.
Kaaren Hatlen picked up the victory, starting the game and eventually re-entering in the sixth inning in place of Kelsey Robinson, who came on in relief the inning before. Hatlen improved her record to 10-6 by allowing four runs, three of them earned, on 10 hits. She walked one batter and struck out three.
Hayley Glantz went the distance for the Bearcats, giving us six earned runs while walking none and striking out two. Glantz is now 8-14 this season.
Game Two - PLU 10, Willamette 0 (5 innings)
Leah Butters limited the Bearcats to one single - Ashley Pender's solid single to centerfield in the fourth inning - to improve her season record to 6-2. She walked no one and struck out two.
Hatlen provided the power for Pacific Lutheran with a long three-run homer over the fence in right field in the second and a two-run drive off of the scoreboard in left-centerfield in the third inning. She also contributed a sacrifice fly in PLU's three-run first inning, giving her a line that showed 2-for-2 with two runs scored and six RBI.
Hall had a run-scoring double and Glenelle Nitta a suicide squeeze bunt for a RBI in the first. Besides Hatlen's two-run homer, PLU's other third inning runs scored on a Willamette error and a run-scoring single by Harrelson.
The Lutes finished with 10 hits, led by Harrelson, Hatlen and Matsunaga with two apiece. Harrelson scored three runs and Califano, Hall and Hatlen all scored two.
Victoria Bradshaw allowed 8 runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings to take the loss.
- PLU -
