THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Whitworth University softball team came up just short in the comeback attempt of game two as the Cal Lutheran softball team snapped a six-game Pirate softball winning streak with 4-1 and 6-5 non-conference wins at Hutton Field on Monday.

Whitworth returns to Spokane with a 7-3 overall record. Cal Lutheran opens the season with a 2-0 record.

Game 1 – Cal Lutheran 4, Whitworth 1
Both teams were slow out of the gate as they combined for just three hits in the first two and a half innings. Cal Lutheran got things going in the bottom of the third when Kayla Sakamoto hit a double that scored Shonna Christianson.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the fifth inning, Whitworth was able to pull even with the Regals as junior Sacha Clow singled to score junior Peyton McMahon. Cal Lutheran responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to regain a 4-1 lead. Whitworth was able to get runners on base in the sixth and seventh inning, but could not get enough hits to put more runs on the scoreboard.

Sacha Clow was 1-2 at the plate with Whitworth's lone RBI.

Junior Taylor Gilbert (3-2) took the loss, giving up three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and a walk in 4.2 innings pitched. Shonna Christianson (1-0) pitched a complete game to pick up the win, allowing just one run on five hits with five strikeouts.

Game 2 – Cal Lutheran 6, Whitworth 5
After the Pirates went down in order to open the second game of the day, Cal Lutheran put six runs on the board on three hits and a Whitworth error that gave the Regals a 6-0 lead. Whitworth got a run back in the top of the second, as a Sacha Clow followed a Cal Lutheran error and Taylor Gilbert leadoff single with a double to left field that sent Gilbert home.

The Pirates limited the Regals to a pair of hits over the next three innings and put together a big fifth inning to challenge the 5-1 Cal Lutheran lead. Senior Makenzie Hope opened the fifth inning with a single, advanced to third on a double from freshman Shannon Wessel and scored on a Taylor Gilbert single to center field. With the bases loaded and two outs, Peyton McMahon hit a double to left center that scored Clow, sophomore Brittany Connor and Wessel and pulled the Pirates within a run.

Whitworth had runners on first and second in the top of the sixth, but the Regals recorded the third out before either could score and the comeback was cut short as the Pirates went down in order in the top of the seventh.

Peyton McMahon was 1-1 at the plate with 3 runs batted in. Taylor Gilbert went 2-3 in the game with an RBI and a run scored.

Freshman Madi Perez (3-1) took the loss, giving up six runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts in two innings pitched. Courtney Sooy (1-0) pitched a complete game to earn the win, allowing five runs on eight hits with four walks and 10 strikeouts.

Whitworth now returns to Spokane to prepare for Northwest Conference action. The Pirates open NWC play at Willamette on Feb. 22.