SPOKANE, Wash.—Freshman
Maggie O'Leary threw her first collegiate complete game to help Lewis & Clark College softball snap a five-game losing streak and keep their Northwest Conference Tournament hopes alive on Saturday afternoon.
THE BASICS
Whitworth University 6, Lewis & Clark 2
Lewis & Clark 6, Whitworth 3
(Lewis & Clark 17-13, NWC 9-11)
(Whitworth 21-11, NWC 13-7)
HOW IT HAPPENED
O'Leary and the Pioneers defense held the host Pirates in check in game two and Lewis & Clark scored early and often to snap a five-game skid in NWC play.
Senior
Kalea Kaui posted a pair of multiple-hit games to lead the Pioneers. She went 4-5 with three runs, one RBI, one double and one walk.
GAME ONE RECAP
Whitworth jumped out to a 4-0 lead and tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to deny the Pioneers a chance at a late comeback.
Kaui posted two of the Pioneers four hits in the loss. She went 2-3 with a run scored.
Freshman
Madison Scroggins added a double and an RBI and sophomore
Mia Lopez chipped in a pinch-hit single.
In the circle, senior
Alyssa Abe took the loss after allowing six hits and four earned runs over 3.1 innings. Freshman
Charlize Pope allowed two runs over two innings in relief and junior
Cassidy Crusberg went the final 0.2 innings.
Whitworth took the lead with a single run in the third and three more in the fourth.
Lewis & Clark cut into the deficit in the fifth and sixth. In the fifth inning, senior
Lindsey Flegel led off with a hit by pitch. Pinch runner
Pippi Jepsen stole second, took third on a Kate Ingersoll groundout and scored on an
Alyssa Hoeke RBI groundout.
The Pioneers cut the deficit to 4-2 in the sixth. With two outs, Kaui singled up the middle and Scroggins doubled to left field to score Kaui.
With the momentum shifting in the Pioneers favor, Whitworth answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Crusberg came on with the bases loaded and one out and induced a pair of ground outs to keep the deficit at 6-2.
GAME TWO RECAP
Lewis & Clark scored in four of their first five at-bats and O'Leary stranded 11 Whitworth baserunners to help Lewis & Clark earn their first win of the series.
O'Leary was excellent in improving to 4-4 in her freshman campaign. She allowed 10 hits, four walks and three earned runs over seven innings. O'Leary chipped in four strikeouts.
Junior
Mari Alvarez, Kaui and Scroggins each finished with two hits in the victory. Kaui went 2-2 with two runs, one RBI, a walk and a double. Scroggins chipped in two hits and two RBI and Alvarez went 2-4 with a double.
Alvarez, who was hitting leadoff for the first time this season, doubled to open the contest and her pinch runner
Gina Ozuna raced home on a Kaui one-out RBI single. After a Kaui stolen base, Scroggins drove Kaui in with a two-out RBI single.
Whitworth loaded the bases in the bottom of the first but O'Leary induced a pop up to shortstop to leave three runners on. In the second, the Pirates scored two runs with two outs on a Mattea Nelson two-run triple.
The Pioneers responded with two of their own in the top of the third. With two outs and no one on, Kaui was hit by a pitch and raced home when the Pirates dropped a
Riley Anderson fly ball to left. Scroggins made it 4-2 with an RBI single to left as Anderson beat the throw home.
Lewis & Clark added a run in the fourth. Junior
Alyssa Hoeke singled with two outs, moved to third on an Alvarez single and scored on an
Emily Patton single. The Pioneers loaded the bases on a Kaui walk, but Anderson crushed a liner right at the first baseman to stem the rally.
The visitors added one final run in the fifth. With two down, freshman
Tallulah Sickels recorded a pinch-hit double and she raced home on a Lopez pinch-hit RBI single.
Whitworth put two on in the fifth with one out and loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth but O'Leary worked her way out of both jams. In the seventh, the hosts put the first two runners on but Kaui turned a 6-3 double play and then caught a pop up to close out the game.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With their one stole base and one hit by pitch in game two on Saturday, Lewis & Clark tied the program record for a single-season in stolen bases (57 – 2006) and hit by pitches (32 in 2015).
- Scroggins finished the weekend 6-12 with one run, three RBI and one double. She hit safely in all four contests.
- Five of the Pioneers six runs in game two came with two outs.
- The Pioneers 11 hits in game two were their most eight games. The team had posted eight hits or fewer in all five games of their season-high losing streak.
- Jepsen has now scored a run in five-straight, pinch-running appearances.
- Lewis & Clark enters the final week of the regular season in fifth place in the NWC Standings at 9-11. The Pios sit two losses behind Pacific Lutheran University (13-9) for the fourth and final playoff spot.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will travel to Pacific Lutheran University for a pivotal NWC doubleheader on Wednesday at 1 and 3 p.m. The Pioneers took the first two games of the series (1-0, 12-5) on March 27.