Written by Student Assistant Jake Bilyeu

TACOMA, Wash. – The Pacific Lutheran University softball team completed its first weekend of Northwest Conference play with a split against Lewis & Clark College on Sunday. The Lutes took the opener 9-5 before succumbing to a late Pioneer rally in a 10-5 setback in the nightcap.

"I think we had some pretty exciting moments, but then we kind of snowballed at the end there and gave a game away, so that was hard to swallow," head coach Brandi Gordon Bennett said.  "But I still see good things happening out there, so we've just got to put those together and keep fighting."

Plenty of excitement came in the opening innings of the day, as Anna Overland, Kathryn Hatlen, and Elise Freund contributed three doubles while Samantha Simundson homered to score seven runs in the first three innings of game one. Overland added a homer of her own in the fourth to score two more, and the Lute defense fended off a late rally from the Pioneers to secure their second win of the weekend, 9-5.

Marissa Miller earned the complete game win, striking out three while offensively Overland finished with three RBIs, two hits, in addition to scoring two runs.

The Pioneers (3-5, 2-2 NWC) took the first lead of the weekend's final match-up with a score on a throwing error in the ^third, but the Lutes countered with an impressive five-run ^fourth inning capped off by a grand slam from Corina Jones.  However, the Pioneers succeeded in rallying the second time around, scoring two runs in the sixth and seven more in the seventh while holding off the Lutes late to win 10-5.

"After the game, we talked as a group about needing to fight for every pitch and every at-bat, because we can't take any opportunity for granted," Gordon Bennett said.  "Lewis & Clark fought, even when we thought we had the game in the bag, so we just need to keep finding that hunger and keep driving forward."

Gabriella Moreno accounted for three of the Lutes' seven hits in game two, finishing three-for-four.

The Lutes will now head south to Arizona to finely tune their game against six non-conference opponents in three days of doubleheaders. 

"We just need to find our consistency, and I think splitting on the weekend really shows that," Gordon Bennett said.  "We can learn from what we didn't do well this weekend, and I think it'll be great to practice against some non-conference teams in the warm weather next week."