SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University softball will host first-place Pacific Lutheran in its final four-game home Northwest Conference series of the season. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon and Sunday's senior day 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.

The Pirates: Whitworth moved to 11-24 overall and 9-15 in conference play after a four-game road sweep of Puget Sound last weekend.

The Pirates took game one 4-3 in extra innings. The Bucs went up three early on with a pair of RBI hits from Kendel Sage and Reagan Ellis. The Loggers would tie the game in the seventh inning, but Brynn Erdmann's go-ahead sacrifice fly pushed Whitworth to a win. Pirate starter Lina Schwippert tied a season-high with eight strikeouts in a complete game effort.

Whitworth went on to win game two 10-2 in six innings. Kendel Sage and Teeghan Reams each went 3 for 4 at the plate and Ellis drove in four runs to lead the Bucs at the plate. Reams earned her second win of the season from the circle and set a new career high with nine strikeouts.

Two hard-fought wins on Sunday completed the four-game sweep. Whitworth took game one 8-4.  After Puget Sound came from behind to take a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning, Reams hit a go-ahead home run to kick off a five-run seventh inning that pushed the Bucs out in front. Eight different Pirates had a hit in the game and Camryn Sage drew four walks. Trinity Miller came in to earn the win in 1.2 innings of relief.

Whitworth gutted out a 6-5 nine-inning game four win to secure the sweep. The Loggers jumped out to a four-run lead through two innings, but the Pirates clawed back and tied the game with four runs in the fifth. Erdmann hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh before PS tied the game on a bases-loaded walk in their half of the inning. A throwing error allowed Whitworth to grab the lead and Reams shut down the Loggers in the final two innings. Kendel Sage went 3 for 4 and totaled nine hits on the weekend. Landri Nakano had two hits and scored three times. Miller made the start, Madison Sanchez pitched five innings of relief and Reams earned her third win from the circle.

Senior Sunday: Pirate seniors Teeghan Reams, Lizzy Bradford, Trinity Miller, Jaedyn Dron, and Reagan Ellis will be recognized for their contributions to Whitworth softball following the conclusion of Sunday's doubleheader.

The Opponents: Pacific Lutheran (28-8, 20-4 NWC) is coming off a series win over third-ranked Linfield that pushed the Lutes into first place in the conference standings. They head into this weekend looking to end Linfield's run of seven consecutive NWC regular season titles. PLU has been strong in each phase of the game during conference play, leading the league in team batting average (.352), total hits (234), hits allowed (148), batting average against (.242), and fielding percentage (.982). Senior outfielder Paola Garcia leads the conference with a .477 batting average and in second in both home runs (13) and RBIs (60). In the circle, junior pitcher Paige Wilson leads the pitching staff with a 2.49 ERA and a 16-1 record in 17 starts this season. Sophomore Maiya Anderson has a 3.03 ERA in 13 starts. PLU swept Whitworth in a four-game series last season in Spokane.

NWC Standings: Pacific Lutheran (20-4) took over first place and sent Linfield (18-6) into a tie with Lewis & Clark (18-6) for second. George Fox (12-12) holds the final NWC tournament spot with Pacific (10-14) two games back. Whitworth (9-15) is still alive for a tournament berth with four game to play.

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.