McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Winners of nine in a row coming into tonight's opening round of the Northwest Conference Tournament, the Pacific Lutheran University softball team had their streak snapped by George Fox University, 6-5, on the campus of Linfield University. 
 
PLU (28-13) opened the scoring with a three-run third inning.  Brooke Tilson walked to lead off the inning and with one out, Mari Foster doubled her in after she was sacrificed to second by Cailey Collado.  With two down, Casey Wright and Emma Ware connected for back-to-back RBI doubles to give the Lutes a 3-0 edge. 
 
Cassidy Conrad (10-2) seemed to be cruising after tossing five shutout innings to open the contest.  She allowed a single and three walks in the sixth to make the score, 3-1, with two outs when she handed the ball to Emma Ware with the bases loaded.  Ware allowed a bases clearing double to the first batter she faced and the second batter also doubled to put George Fox up 5-3.  The final run of the inning came across on an error by Chaella Galapon in the next at-bat and suddenly it was 6-3. 
 
Still within striking distance in the top of the seventh, Foster smoked a two-out double down the left field line and Erin McGrath followed with a two-run blast over the left field wall to pull the Lutes to within one.  Unfortunately, in the next at-bat Wright popped up the catcher in foul territory as the 23^rd-ranked Bruins escaped with the victory. 
 
McGrath's home run was her 15^th of the season, breaking the school record of 14 in a single season set by Shannon Fritzke in 2002.  The loss was just the second of the season for Conrad and the first since way back on February 20 against Chapman University, a span of 13 straight starts. 
 
PLU will look to keep their season alive tomorrow at noon when they play Whitworth University.  If the Lutes win, they will meet the loser of Linfield and George Fox at 5:00 p.m. in the semifinals.