SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth swept visiting Lewis & Clark in a Northwest Conference softball doubleheader at Diana Marks Field on Friday, winning the opener 10-4 and rallying to take the second game 5-4.
Right-handed pitcher Corinne Vasiloff had a win and a save to help the Pirates improve to 20-10 overall and 12-6 in the NWC. The Pioneers dropped to 16-12, 8-10.
The teams will complete the four-game series with a second doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 11:00 am.
Game 1 – Whitworth 10, Lewis & Clark 4
The Pirates scored in every inning to steadily pull away from the Pioneers in the opener.
Whitworth scored five runs in the top of the first inning, beginning with a leadoff home run by Haley Montoya, her second of the season. After an error, single and a walk, Reagan Ellis was hit by a pitch to drive in the second run. Kennedy Robison, Taylor Hofheins and Jessica Rusconi followed with RBI singles.
L&C scored four in the top of the second. Tallulah Sickels drove in the first run with an RBI double to left center. A throwing error allowed Sickles to score. Emily Patton added an RBI double later in the inning.
Vasiloff settled down and did not allow another run. Meanwhile, the Pirates would pull away by scoring single runs in each of the next five frames.
Mattea Nelson had an RBI double in the third and Ellis added an RBI single in the fourth. Hofheins opened the fifth with a single, moved to second and third on consecutive ground outs and scored on a wild pitch. Heather Menzer led off the bottom of the sixth with her eighth home run of the season.
Vasiloff improved to 13-4 after giving up two earned runs on six hits and two walks. She struck out two batters.
Sickels (3-4) started in the circle for L&C and took the loss after giving up five runs (four earned) on two hits and a walk in one-third of an inning. Charlize Pope threw 4.2 frames of relief and Cassidy Crusberg tossed the final inning.
Hofheins went 3 for 3 while Nelson finished 3 for 4 for the Pirates.
Game 2 – Whitworth 5, Lewis & Clark 4
The Pirates rallied from an early 4-2 deficit thanks to five shutout innings of relief pitching and timely hitting in the fifth inning.
Jazz Johnson drove in a pair of runs in the bottom of the first with a single to center field.
L&C's Kalea Kaui drilled a solo home run in the top of the second to center field, her third of the season. The Pioneers added three more runs in the third. Mari Alvarez had an RBI double, Riley Anderson followed with a double that scored Alvarez. Anderson scored later in the inning on Kaui's sacrifice fly.
The game remained 4-2 into the bottom of the fourth when Montoya's infield single with the bases loaded and two outs got the Bucs within a run.
Whitworth scored two in the fifth, beginning with Johnson's RBI single that tied the game with one out. Robison drove in the winning run with a two-out single through the right side.
Kaleigh Bauerle (1-1) came on in relief in the third and pitched three scoreless innings to earn the win, her first as a Pirate. Annie Brose pitched a scoreless sixth inning and Vasiloff allowed a one-out single in the seventh before securing the save. Momi Lyman gave up four runs on six hits in two innings as the starter.
Maggie O'Leary (3-4) pitched the first 4.1 innings for L&C and took the loss after allowing five runs on six hits and four walks. She struck out two. Alyssa Abe tossed the final 1.2 innings for the Pioneers.
Johnson finished the game 2 for 3 with three RBIs for Whitworth.
