By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – Following a season-opening trip to Texas, the Whitworth softball team jumps into Northwest Conference play with a four-game series at Lewis & Clark this weekend. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at noon and first pitch on Sunday is set 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.
The Pirates: Whitworth (0-6) gained valuable early experience but couldn't come away with a win in a trio of doubleheaders in the Lone Star State.
On February 21, the Bucs opened the season with a pair of losses to Southwestern. Whitworth fell 5-1 in game one despite outhitting the opponent. Teeghan Reams hit an RBI single to score the first Pirate run of the season in the top of the first. Southwestern took advantage of mistakes and plated five runs through the first two innings. The Southwestern Pirates took game two 9-1 in five-innings. Whitworth manufactured a run in the fifth to keep the game alive, but Southwestern put the game away with another run in the bottom half.
The Pirates fell twice to Trinity on February 22. The Tigers took game one 2-1 with a walk-off solo home run in the eighth inning. Whitworth scored first with an RBI single off the bat of Raegan Ellis, but the Tigers answered with a run in the fifth. Madison Sanchez had a standout performance in the circle for the Bucs, allowing just four hits and striking out four in 7.1 innings. Trinity completed the sweep with an 8-0 five-inning win in game two. The Tigers scored seven runs in the first inning and Megan Kriechbaum shut down the Pirate bats with three hits and eight strikeouts in the circle.
Whitworth closed the trip with a pair of losses to NAIA opponent Texas A&M-San Antonio. The Jaguars took game one 12-1 and won game two 11-0. The Pirates scored their lone run of the day from a dropped fly ball that allowed Camryn Sage to score from second. TAMUSA collected 10 hits in each game.
The Opponents: Lewis & Clark comes into the first weekend of NWC play with a 1-5 overall record. Last season, the River Otters finished 21-7 in NWC play and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance. L&C completed a six-game trip to California last weekend that included doubleheaders against 24th-ranked Chapman and fourth-ranked Redlands. Their lone win came in a doubleheader against Pomona-Pitzer. The River Otters bat .270 as a team thus far, led by junior Harper Campanella and first-year Kodie Ancheta who each have seven hits. Campanella leads the team with 12 runs batted in. Seniors Charlize Pope and Maggie O'Leary have each made three starts in the circle, with five other pitchers making relief appearances. The Pirates were swept in last season's four-game series in Portland.
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 return to Spokane for its home-opening four-game series against George Fox on March 14-15.
