SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth softball squad returns to Spokane this weekend to host its first home games of the season against defending Northwest Conference champion Linfield University. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon and Sunday's doubleheader is scheduled for 11:00 am.

Check the Whitworth softball schedule page for live links to this weekend's action.

Watch on FloCollege: All of Whitworth's home and Northwest Conference athletic events will be streamed through FloCollege in 2025-26. Fans can sign up to watch Pirate sports on the FloCollege portal. Registration is $108 for an annual subscription or $20 per month. Those who register with a .edu email address get a significant discount.

Home-Sweet-Home:  A road-heavy non-conference schedule and unfortunate weather means that Whitworth has not played any of its first 15 games at Marks Field. The Pirates played all 11 non-conference games away from home and opened NWC play on the road at Lewis & Clark. Whitworth's first home series scheduled for March 15-16 against George Fox was postponed due to a snow-covered Marks field.

The Pirates: Whitworth returned home from a five-game trip to sunny California with its first wins of the season.

The Bucs opened the non-conference trip with a doubleheader sweep at La Verne on Saturday. The Pirates took game one 2-0 behind a complete game shutout from pitcher Madison Sanchez. The bats came alive for a 9-1 five-inning win in game two. Whitworth scored a run in every inning but the fifth, led by Teeghan Reams who hit her second home run of the season and totaled four RBIs. The Pirates' five extra base hits and nine runs were both season-highs.

On Monday, the Bucs dopped a tight doubleheader a NAIA opponent La Sierra. Sanchez again started strong in the circle, but a third-inning grand slam pushed the Golden Eagles to a 5-1 game one win. La Sierra stole a 3-2 win in game two. Whitworth starter Lina Schwippert carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning, and the Bucs grabbed an early 2-0 lead. The Golden Eagles broke through to tie the game in the sixth inning. Whitworth loaded the bases in the top of the seventh but couldn't push the go-ahead run across the plate. A wild pitch allowed the game-winning run to score.

Hope International downed the Pirates 9-1 in five innings on Tuesday. After the Pirates scored a run in the top of the first, the Royals blew open the game with nine runs on eight hits in the bottom half of the inning. Reagan Ellis posted her second consecutive multi-hit game.

The Opponents: Seventh ranked Linfield heads to Spokane with an 18-2 overall record and 6-2 mark in NWC play. The only two losses came in the Wildcats' first conference series of the season against George Fox. Linfield is hitting .348 as a team this season, led by junior outfielder Meara Sain with a .507 batting average in 20 games. Senior catcher Ashlyn Aven leads Division III with nine home runs and 36 RBIs. 2025 NWC Pitcher of the Year Tyler McNeley leads the pitching staff with a 1.61 ERA and 11 complete games in 11 starts. Last season, the Pirates were swept in four games on the road against Linfield.

The Coach: Bill Baber took over as the head softball coach at Whitworth prior to the 2026 season. Baber, who has over 350 career victories to his name across NCAA DI, DII, DIII and NAIA levels, spent the last 22 seasons at California Baptist University where he served 10 seasons as a head coach, four seasons as associate head coach and eight seasons as an assistant. He led Cal Baptist to a National Christian College Athletics Association championship in his first season as a head coach in 2012 and advanced to the NCAA DII regional playoffs five seasons in a row from 2014-2018.

Looking Ahead: Whitworth will head to Oregon to play a four-game NWC series against Willamette on April 3-4.