TACOMA, Wash. – The Whitworth softball team completed the sweep in Tacoma with a 13-0 win over Puget Sound on Monday at Logger Field. Whitworth improves to 12-10 on the season, with a 9-7 mark in Northwest Conference action. Puget Sound falls to 0-16 overall, 0-12 in NCW play.
Junior Julia Johnson went 2-for-2 at the plate, with five runs batted in, and connected with her third home run of the season. Sophomore Peyton McMahon hit her first home run of the season and finished the game with two RBI.
Game 4 – Whitworth 13, Puget Sound 0 (5 innings)
After a scoreless first inning, junior Julia Johnson homered in the top of the second inning to get Whitworth on the scoreboard first.
The Pirates combined three hits with three Logger errors to push six runs across the plate in the top of the third inning. With bases loaded, Julia Johnson was walked, scoring junior Makenzie Hope. In the next at-bat, junior Caylan Haehl scored on a fielding error that allowed sophomore Riley Fritz to reach first. Senior Jamie Brunner tagged up on a sacrifice fly from freshman Alyssa Martinez, and Johnson scored on a throwing error for Whitworth's third and fourth runs of the inning. Sophomore Taylor Gilbert's double to left center scored Riley Fritz, and then Gilbert scored on Puget Sound's third error of the inning.
The Loggers were unable to answer in the bottom of the inning. Whitworth tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth as Johnson hit a double to left center that scored Brunner and Haehl. Whitworth turned a double play in the bottom of the fourth to keep Puget Sound scoreless.
In the top of the fifth inning, sophomore Peyton McMahon hit a two-run home run to left center, scoring Taylor Gilbert. Freshman Alyssa Hall scored on a Logger fielding error and junior Hanna Boyd scored Whitworth's final run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Julia Johnson.
Taylor Gilbert (3-6) earned the win in the circle, walking two of the 18 batters she faced, and giving up a lone hit in five innings. Megan Campbell took the loss, giving up three earned runs on five hits to the 19 batters she faced in three innings.
Next up, Whitworth will face Lewis & Clark in a four game series that starts at 12:00 pm on Saturday, March 23rd in Portland, Ore.
