SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University softball has an action-packed week ahead with eight games to be played in five days. The Pirates will host rescheduled doubleheaders against George Fox on Wednesday and Thursday with first pitch on both days set for 12:00 pm. After a day off, Pacific (Ore.) visits for another four-game Northwest Conference series this weekend. First pitch on Saturday is 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 (5-18, 3-9 NWC) took three of four games from Willamette to earn its first NWC wins of the season.

The Pirates totaled ten hits, led by Aubrey Bauer who went 3 for 4, but a pair of RBI singles in the bottom of the sixth led Willamette to a 4-2 win in game one. The Bearcats took an early 2-0 lead before Teeghan Reams tied the game with third home run of the season. Both teams were held scoreless until the sixth when the Bearcats capitalized with two run scoring hits. Madison Sanchez (1-7) allowed four runs and struck out three in the 5.1 start for the Bucs.

The Pirate bats started hot in game two, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Willamette later tied the game, but Camryn Sage pushed the Bucs to a 7-4 win with a bases-clearing three-run double in the top of the seventh inning. Sage had three of Whitworth's 11 hits, all doubles. Lina Schwippert pitched the first four innings and Reams (1-3) earned her first win with three innings of relief.

On Sunday, the Bucs again set a new season-high in hits with 13 and scored a run in five of the seven innings in a 5-2 game three win. Reams (3-4) led at the plate with an RBI triple in the first inning and RBI single in the fourth. Schwippert earned her second win of the season in the circle after allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits with six strikeouts in a complete game effort.

Whitworth closed the weekend with a 4-1 win in game four to sweep the Sunday doubleheader and clinch the series win. Willamette led 1-0 heading into the fifth before the Bucs loaded the bases and Raegan Ellis came through with a two-out go-ahead two-run single up the middle. Tessa Hahn's double in the seventh added two more and Reams closed the game with a save in the circle. Sanchez (2-7) earned the win with one run allowed and one strikeout in the four-inning start. Reams struck out three in three innings of relief.

The Opponents: After a snowed out first series, George Fox makes it to Spokane with a 10-14 overall record and 4-8 mark in conference play. After an NWC Tournament appearance a season ago, the Bruins' slow start to conference play could be attributed to matchups against the top three teams in the NWC standings. GFU has a .251 team batting average that ranks seventh in the conference. Despite the low team average, they are second in the NWC with 25 home runs and first in walks drawn (108). Junior Sami Stadtlander leads the team with six home runs and Junior Tinley Taylor paces the team with a .420 batting average and 29 hits. In the circle, Nicole Ledendecker (3.74) and Riley Pirkle (3.52) have each made at least nine starts with a sub four ERA. GFU took three of four games from the Pirates last season in Spokane.

Pacific (Ore.) enters the weekend with a 10-16 overall record and 5-11 record in conference play. Last weekend, the Boxers were swept in a four-game series at home against Linfield. They rank fifth in the conference in hitting (.267) and are third in walks drawn (93). Junior Kimberly Ray leads the team with a .342 batting average and 26 hits. Junion Libby Hardy is close behind with a .329 average and senior Chloe Knepp leads the team with 24 RBIs. Junior Kiara Baba leads Pacific in the circle with a 2.75 ERA in nine starts. In last season's series, the Boxers won three of four games in Forest Grove.  

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 heads to the west side to battle Puget Sound in a four-game NWC series on April 18-19.