SPOKANE, Wash. – For the second day in a row Whitworth and George Fox split a Northwest Conference softball doubleheader, leading to a an even four-game series over the weekend at Diana Marks Field.  The Bruins held off the Pirates' comeback to claim Sunday's opener 8-7.  Then Makayla Lefever repeated her dominating performance from Saturday and shut out GFU 5-0 in the series finale.

Whitworth finishes the weekend 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the NWC while the Bruins are now 7-5, 4-4.

The Pirates will return to action next weekend at Willamette University.

Game 1 – George Fox 8, Whitworth 7
The Bruins built a 7-3 lead before the Pirates rallied to within a run, but they could not come all the way back.  Tessa Matthews doubled and homered for the Bucs, driving in four runs.

GFU's Abbie Bergerson and Whitworth's Madi Perez faced off in the opener for the second straight day.  But it was not nearly the pitchers' duel it had been in Saturday's 1-0 Bruin victory.

Matthews doubled home two runs in the bottom of the first inning against Bergerson to give Whitworth a 2-0 lead.

But Courtney Howard tripled home the Bruins' first run in the top of the second and then scored on Kat Hylton's first home run of the season two batters later to give George Fox a 3-2 lead.

Whitworth tied the game in the bottom of the second when Desi Graham scored on Shannon Wessel's sacrifice fly.

George Fox pecked away at Perez for a single run in the third, two more in the fourth and one more in the fifth to open up the 7-3 lead.  Both runs in the fourth inning were unearned.

The Pirates got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth on Matthew's first homer of the season, which just cleared the fence in center field and drove in Chelsey Hayes.

The Bruins picked up what proved to be a critical run in the sixth off of Pirate reliever Ashley Trueblood when Amanda Woods delivered a sacrifice fly for an 8-5 lead.

That's because Hayes doubled home Whitworth's final two runs off of Bruin reliever Madison Sorensen in the bottom of the sixth to pull the Bucs to within 8-7.  But Sorensen was able to strike out Matthews with the potential tying and go-ahead runs still on base to preserve the lead.

Sorensen then worked a 1-2-3 seventh to earn her first save.

Bergerson (3-1) was credited with the win despite allowing five runs (all earned) on eight hits over 5.0 innings.  She struck out two and walked two. 

Perez (2-3) allowed seven runs (five earned) on eight hits in 5.0 innings.  She struck out four and walked three.

Game 2 – Whitworth 5, George Fox 0
Makala Lefever tossed a complete-game three-hitter to forge the split for the Pirates.  She struck out four batters without a walk and allowed only one Bruin to reach as far as second base, on Ashley Bunce's double in the third inning. 

Megan John doubled home Whitworth's first run in the second inning.  She then advanced to third on Desi Graham's single, and was able to come home when the ball was misplayed in left field.

Nikki Olsen's RBI single in the fifth inning increased Whitworth's lead to 3-0.  Michelle Silva closed out Whitworth's offense in the sixth with her first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left-center that drove in Morgan Portlock.

Lefever improved to 6-0 this season with a 1.20 ERA.

Alyssa Harris started in the circle for GFU and fell to 0-1 after allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits in 5.1 innings.