SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University softball team earned a pair of Northwest Conference victories over George Fox University behind the strong hitting of freshman Shannon Wessel at Marks Field on Sunday.

Wessel went 5-6 over the two games with three runs batted in and five runs scored in Whitworth's 5-0 and 10-4 wins.

Whitworth improves to 22-8 overall, with a 14-4 NWC record. George Fox falls to 19-9 on the season, 8-8 in the NWC.

Game 1 – Whitworth 5, George Fox 0
Freshman Shannon Wessel hit the first home run of her Pirate career and freshman Madi Perez threw a two-hit shut out as the Pirates defeated George Fox 5-0 in Sunday's opener.

Senior Makenzie Hope reached on a throwing error by the Bruin shortstop on a play that would have been the third out of the third inning. Instead, Hope and sophomore Alyssa Hall scored when Wessel homered to left field and put the Pirates up 3-0 after three.

Whitworth added a run each in the fourth and fifth innings on RBI singles from freshman Tessa Matthews and junior Sacha Clow to take a 5-0 lead heading into the sixth.

Wessel went 2-3 with three RBI and two runs for the Pirates.

Perez (11-4) gave up just two hits and walked two of the 24 batters she faced in seven innings to earn the win in the circle. Erin Hento (9-4) gave up one earned run on five hits while striking out four of the 19 batters she faced in four innings.

Game 2 – Whitworth 10, George Fox 4
George Fox followed a run from the leadoff batter with a two-run homer to take a 3-0 lead after the first inning, but the Pirates chipped away at the lead in the bottom of the second.

After a leadoff single from Sacha Clow, junior Taylor Gilbert's bunt put runners on first and second. Both scored as junior Peyton McMahon hit a single up the middle and the Pirates pulled within a run, 3-2 after the second. The Bruins pulled ahead 4-2 in the top of the third. Clow's sacrifice bunt put the tying run on second, and the Pirates tied the game on Gilbert's double down the left field line.

In the bottom of the fifth, an RBI single from Clow and an RBI double from Gilbert put the Pirates up 6-4 with runners on second and third and no outs in the inning. Whitworth plated two more runs to take an 8-4 lead before the inning was over. The Pirates extended the lead to six runs in the bottom of the sixth and claimed the win after Madi Perez struck out two of the three batters in the top of the seventh.

Wessel and Gilbert went 3-3 at the plate. Gilbert had three RBI and a pair of runs herself, while Wessel scored twice.

Taylor Gilbert (5-2) earned the win, giving up seven hits with two walks and a strikeout in 5.1 innings of work. Madi Perez earned her second save of the season, throwing one inning of relief and striking out two of the four batters she faced. Allyssa DenDekker (6-4) took the loss, allowingd six runs on 12 hits in four innings in the circle.

Whitworth hosts league-leading Linfield in a four game series at Marks Field next weekend. First pitch will be at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 5.