TACOMA, Wash. --- The Pacific Lutheran Softball team fought through tough conditions and a 90 minute rain delay to earn a split in the first two games of a four-game series at home against Willamette.
 
Game One
 
Rachael Rhinehart continues to be the No.1 pitcher for the Lutes, as she opened the four-game series inside the circle for the Lutes. The graduate transfer struggled to find the zone early in the game, as she walked the leadoff batter. Willamette's leadoff walk would steal second base before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Rhinehart would quickly settle in and strike out the next two batters looking.
 
The Bearcats struck first though, in the bottom of the second inning, a two-out double to right-centerfield followed by an RBI single down the right field line would put Willamette up 1-0 early. The Lutes bats would answer right back in the home half of the inning, with Zoe Smithson reaching on a leadoff walk. Smithson moved up to second on a fielder's choice and later advance to third on a wild pitch. Brooke Tilson drove in the right fielder with a single up the middle. Senior Rylie Wada would put the Lutes on top 2-1 with a fielder's choice back to the mound, scoring Tilson from third.
 
Willamette kept their bats hot in the top of the third, opening the inning with a single and advancing to third following a fielder's choice and passed ball. A single to shallow right field would score one for the Bearcats, with the batter advancing to second on the throw. A one-out double would score another run and put the Bearcats back in the lead 3-2.
 
Opening the home half of the third with three consecutive singles, the Lutes loaded the bases with no outs. A wild pitch, likely from the wet conditions on the field, scored Megan Landes to make it a 3-3 ballgame. Following Smithson's ground out, yet another wild pitch from Willamette score Paola Garcia and gave the Lutes the lead for the second time. Molly House clutched up with one out, and ripped a single into shallow left field, putting the Lutes on top 5-3 after three.
 
Rhinehart began to get a better grip on the ball and made it through the fourth inning unscathed. The fifth inning cut the Lutes lead to just one following a single and double to left-centerfield. House continued her hitting streak in the bottom of the sixth, and gave the Lutes an insurance run with a deep fly ball to left field that would scratch the backside of the outfield fence.
 
Rhinehart pitched a pair of shutdown innings to close out the complete game, allowing zero hits and just one walk. The graduate transfer carded her second win of the season after throwing a whopping 136 pitches in the contest. Per usual, Rhinehart sat down nine batters and walked three, but earned four runners on her watch.
 
The Lutes trailed in the total hits column with just seven on the game, with House going 2-3 in the game with two runs batted in and one run scored. Six of the Lutes 10 different hitters recorded a hit against the Bearcats. The difference came in the runners left on base; as the Lutes stranded just four over six innings while the Bearcats left 11 runners on base in seven innings.
 
Game Two
 
Sophomore Rachel Treves started the second game of the doubleheader inside the circle for the Lutes. The Bellevue, Wash. native allowed one run in the opening frame after a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.
 
Leadoff hitter Megan Landes opened the home half of the game with a double to deep left center, but was put out on a fielder's choice to third base. The game would go into a rain delay for over 90 minutes with the tarp being rolled out onto PLU Field. After extensive field work, the game resumed in the top of the second with a 3-0 count and no outs for the Bearcats. Following a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, Treves got into trouble with two outs in the inning, allowing four-straight singles, scoring four Bearcats in the process. Senior Molly House would come in to relieve Treves on the mound and get out of the jam.
 
Struggling to find baserunners, the Lutes finally broke free in the bottom of the third, as two walks would lead to runs after the Bearcats dropped a fly ball to deep left field. Smithson scored the Lutes third run of the game and the inning on a wild pitch; making it a 5-3 ball game early.
 
House would find her rhythm inside the circle, holding Willamette hitless until the sixth inning. The senior gave up two singles which gave the Bearcats an extra insurance run and a 6-3 lead with just six outs remaining for PLU.
 
The Lutes would scatter multiple hits across the remaining innings, but unable to score a run other than a two-out blast from sophomore Paola Garcia. Garcia's home run made it a 6-4 ballgame, to which the Bearcats would go on to win the second game of the day and split the Saturday series opener.
 
 Treves was credited with the loss following a one and two-third inning outing, allowing five of the Bearcats six runs of the day; just three of which were earned. As a team, the Lutes had just five hits, three of which coming from Emma Ware who went a perfect 3-3 in game two.
 
"We are a better team than we showed today. We didn't make the adjustments at the plate that we needed in game 2. We failed to capitalize in some opportunities with runners in scoring position in the game." Said Head Coach Traci Barrett following Saturday's split.
 
"Molly had a great outing today on the mound. She came in to pitch in a difficult situation and shut the door that inning. We had some defensive errors that we need to learn from, and reset for tomorrow."
 
The Lutes look to win their first home series of the season and remain ahead of the Bearcats in the conference standings in a double header tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m. on PLU Field.
 
To follow Lutes coverage all season long, please follow us on social media; PLU Athletics on Facebook, @GoLutes on X.com and Instagram.