WEST LINN, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College softball earned their first win of the Northwest Conference season in mercy-rule fashion in game one and fell just short of a sweep in the nightcap. 
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 9, University of Puget Sound 1 (5 Innings)
Puget Sound 7, Lewis & Clark 5 
(Lewis & Clark 7-7, Northwest Conference 1-5) 
(Puget Sound 4-8, Northwest Conference 1-5) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Pioneers scored runs in four of the five innings in game one and used a dominant performance from senior ace Alyssa Abe to easily dispatch the visitors. Puget Sound scored six runs in the top of the second of game two and held off a late rally to split Saturday's doubleheader. 
 
In the circle, Abe and freshman Charlize Pope combined to strike out 17 Loggers over 10.1 innings. Offensively, freshman Emily Patton posted two hits in both games and finished the day 4-7 with three runs, two RBI, one walk and a double. 
 
GAME ONE RECAP 
 
Lewis & Clark racked up nine runs on nine hits and Abe held the visitors to just three hits and one walk over five innings. 
 
The Pioneers senior ace improved to 2-0 after giving up one earned run and striking out seven. 
 
Sophomore Katie Ingersoll and Patton each finished with two hits in the win. Ingersoll finished 2-3 with a run scored and a double. Patton went 2-3 with two runs, two RBI, a walk and a walk-off double. 
 
Senior Kalea Kaui added two RBI and junior Sam Gildersleeve came off the bench to go 1-1 with two runs scored, a double and a walk. Sophomore Riley Anderson finished 1-2 with a run scored, an RBI, a walk and two of the team's five stolen bases. 
 
Lewis & Clark opened the scoring in the first. Freshman Lainey Honma led off with a single and took second on a Patton ground out. After Honma advanced to third on a wild pitch, she scampered home on a Mari Alvarez RBI single. 
 
The Pios tacked on two runs in the third. Patton led off the inning with a single and raced to third on a Gildersleeve triple. With one out, Kaui ripped a single off the shortstop that allowed Patton to score. Two batters later, Gildersleeve took off for third on a pitch in the "dirt" and was able to come all the way home-when the throw to third went off the third baseman's glove and into left field. 
 
Puget Sound cut the deficit to 3-1 in the top of the fourth. With two outs, the Loggers recorded back-to-back singles and then Mikayla Johnson hit a double to left. The Pioneers defense made sure that's as much as UPS would get, as Lewis & Clark tagged out the trail runner at third after a beautiful relay throw from Madison Scroggins to Kaui to McKenna Zehnder at third. 
 
The Pios blew the game open in the bottom of the inning. Ingersoll led off by legging out a double and easily scored when Scroggins put down a sac bunt and the throw to first was over thrown and ended up in foul territory. Scroggins scored two batters later on a Patton RBI single. With two on and one out, Anderson's single to right-center plated Patton to make it 6-1. The Pios tacked on a run on a Loggers error and then scored another on a double steal. 
 
After a 1-2-3 top of the fifth, the Pioneers walked it off in the bottom of the inning. Scroggins walked with one out and was replaced on the base paths by freshman Lola Jarrette. Sophomore pinch hitter Mia Lopez was hit by a pitch and both runners moved up 60 feet on a wild pitch. Patton followed with an RBI double to left-center that helped the Pioneers put the mercy rule in effect (9-1). 
 
GAME TWO RECAP 
 
Lewis & Clark jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one, but the Loggers scratched across six runs in the second and senior Savanna Smith held the Pioneers bats in check until the seventh. 
 
Pope came on in relief in the bottom of the second and pitched the final 5.1 innings. She allowed five hits, two runs (one earned), walked two and doubled her career-high for strikeouts in a single-game with 10.
 
Anderson and Patton each posted a team-high two hits. Anderson went 2-4 with an RBI and Patton finished 2-4 with a run. Honma added a hit, two walks and two runs scored and Zehnder went 1-2 with an RBI. 
 
Smith threw a complete-game for Puget Sound. She scattered six hits, five runs (four earned), three walks and struck out six. 
 
Lewis & Clark carried their momentum over from game one to start the second game. The Pios loaded the bases with no outs on a Honma walk, Patton single and Alvarez hit by pitch. Anderson drove in the first run with an RBI groundout. After a hit by pitch (Gildersleeve) and strike out loaded the bases with two outs, Zehnder beat out an infield single and the throw by the shortstop skipped past the first baseman to allow Patton and Alvarez to score. 
 
Puget Sound responded with a six-run second. The Loggers used four hits, two hit by pitches, one walk and three Pioneers errors to put up the crooked number. 
 
The Pioneers would put runners on in three of the next five innings but couldn't scratch across a run. 
 
Puget Sound finally broke the scoreless stretch with a key insurance run in the top of the seventh to make it 7-3. 
 
Lewis & Clark nearly came all the way back in the bottom of the seventh. Freshman Lacey Marglin opened the inning with a hit by pitch and Honma beat out an infield single. With runners at the corners and no outs, Honma swiped second and Marglin was allowed to trot home to make it 7-4. Alvarez drove in Honma with an RBI groundout to make it 7-5 with two outs. Anderson singled just inside the left-field line to bring the tying run to the plate but Smith recorded a strikeout to end the contest. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Pioneers pitching ended the day with 19 strikeouts. Freshman Tallulah Sickels and Pope combined to help Lewis & Clark record double-digit strikeouts in the circle (12 total) in a single-game for the first time this season. 
• The Pioneers tied their season-high with five stolen bases (5-5) in game one. 
• In her last three outings (all in relief), Pope has allowed three runs (two earned) over 11.1 innings. She has struck out 15 batters and walked two during that span. 
• Patton is hitting .421 (8-9) in six conference contests. 
• The Pioneers and Loggers have split three-consecutive conference doubleheaders. Over the past three seasons, the two teams have split four of their five doubleheaders, with the Pioneers sweeping the other one (2021). 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
The Pioneers will host Puget Sound on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Rosemont Ridge Middle School in West Linn, Oregon.