SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth won both halves of a Northwest Conference softball doubleheader against visiting Willamette on Sunday to sweep the four game series and post the first unbeaten home record in school history.
The Pirates (22-9 overall, 13-7 NWC) beat the Bearcats (8-22, 5-13) 7-3 and 12-8 to finish the 2022 home schedule 12-0.
The Bucs will finish the regular season on the road over the next two weekends, beginning April 9-10 at Lewis & Clark.
Game 1 – Whitworth 7, Willamette 3
The Pirates hit three home runs and jumped to a big early lead to claim the first game of the doubleheader.
The Bearcats scored first when Brianna Majors and Adele Benny led off the game with back to back doubles. But Whitworth starting pitcher Corinne Vasiloff worked out of trouble to limit the damage to one run, setting a tone for the rest of the game.
The Pirates took advantage of an error to score three unearned runs in the bottom of the first. After Haley Montoya led off with a single, Rylee Gentner dropped a sacrifice bunt in front of the plate and the throw to first base was too high, allowing Montoya to go to third. Montoya scored on Julia Dillon's ground out. After a strikeout, Heather Menzer homored to center field, her fifth of the season.
Gentner added a three-run home run in the bottom of the second to give the Bucs a 6-1 lead. It was Gentner's sixth of the season.
Carrie Dose doubled in a run for Willamette and then later scored on a ground out to second base to pull the visitors within 6-3 in the top of the fourth.
Montoya brought the crowd to its feet in the bottom of the sixth when her drive to right field took a funny bounce past the outfielder and Montoya rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run, her first of the year. Montoya finished the game 3-4 with three runs scored.
Vasiloff (12-8) worked out of trouble in every inning. In each of the first six frames the leadoff batter reached base, but the Bearcats scored in only two of those innings. She scattered nine hits and allowed three earned runs for her 16th complete game of the year.
Jordyn Johnson (3-9) allowed seven runs (four earned) on eight hits in six innings of work for Willamette.
Game 2 – Whitworth 12, Willamette 8
The Pirates hit three more home runs and held off the Bearcats after jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead.
Delayna Waite's two-run double got the Pirates on the board in the second inning. Whitworth added four more in the third, beginning with an RBI single by Maddy Thomas. After a walk and an out, Mattea Nelson hit a three-run home run, her second of the season, for a 6-0 lead.
Willamette took advantage of three walks and a pair of errors to score six runs on only three hits in the top of the fourth inning. Benny drew a bases-loaded walk for one RBI. Marykate DeLuca had a sacrifice fly and Dose drove a two-run single to left center to tie the game.
Whitworth answered immediately in the bottom of the fourth. Waite led off with a double and scored on Montoya's single up the middle. Gentner followed with a two-run home run to lift the Pirates to a 9-6 lead.
Majors drilled an RBI double in the fifth to pull the Bearcats back within two, but Montoya added her second home run of the day in the bottom of the inning. Her three-run shot to left field extended the lead to 12-7.
Willamette loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but Vasiloff, who came on in relief in the fourth, limited the damage to one run on a fielder's choice. She then held the Bearcats scoreless in the seventh to end the game.
Vasiloff (13-8) worked the final 3.2 innings in relief of Momi Lyman, allowing two runs on nine hits. Lymann gave up six runs (three earned) on only three hits in 3.1 innings. But she struggled with control, walking seven batters.
Dose started in the circle for Willamette and allowed six runs (two earned) on five hits in three innings. Kenna Davis (4-8) took the loss in relief after giving up five runs on three hits in one-plus inning. Jordyn Johnson threw the final two frames and allowed one run on two hits.
