GAME 1: Pacific 8, Chapman 7 (9 innings)
Box Score
GAME 2: Chapman 8, Pacific 4 (6 innings)
Box Score
ORANGE, Calif. – The Pacific softball team completed their six-game California road trip with a doubleheader at Chapman University on Sunday. Sort of.
The Boxers defeated the Panthers 8-7 in nine innings in game one, then had to call it quits in the sixth inning of game two to catch their flight home. Officially, it will be recorded as a six-inning, 8-4 victory for Chapman. The Boxers finished the trip with a 2-4 record, while Chapman advanced to 3-2 on the seaon with the victory.
Game one took over three hours to complete, as the teams combined for 25 hits and 14 bases on balls.
Jordan Mittelsdorf (Sr., Boardman, Ore.) delivered the key blow, a bases-clearing double in the top of the ninth inning. The game-winning hit came from
Chloe Hanson (Fr., Trail, Ore.), who plated Mittelsdorf with a two-out single for what turned out to be the game-winning RBI.
Chapman rallied in the bottom of the frame as relief pitcher Jenny Yano (Fr., Ontario, Ore.) walked the leadoff batter, then gave up back-to-back base hits to load the bases with nobody out. Kerry Peterson followed with a two-RBI single, scoring Raquel Rinauro and Andrena Calix and sending Yano out of the circle.
Chelsey Chamberlain (Sr., Grants Pass) took over and coaxed a fly ball to center field from Michelle Pitts. Karina Muniz broke for home from third, but Boxer center fielder
Kaylene Sudbeck (Fr., Caldwell, Idaho) threw behind the runner at first and doubled off Peterson, killing the rally. Chamberlain retired cleanup batter Stephanie Engle on a pop up to shortstop
Jenna Stevens to end the threat and the game.
Chamberlain started and finished the game in the circle to earn the save, pitching 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Yano initially replaced Chamberlain in the bottom of the third inning and fanned Courtney James with the bases loaded to preserve a 1-1 tie. Yano pitched through the fifth inning, then replaced Hanson, the fourth pitcher of the game, to start the ninth. Hanson pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win, striking out three with no walks and three hits allowed, while going 1 for 2 at the plate.
Mittelsdorf and
Kaitlyn Shikada (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) each had two hits and two runs scored for the Boxers. Pitts and starting pitcher Katie Terry each went 2 for 3 for Chapman. Reliever Rihanna Stepler-Camp took the loss, allowing four runs on three hits and three walks over two innings after Terry went the first seven.
The Panthers stranded 15 baserunners in the game, leaving the bases loaded in the third, sixth and seventh innings, while Pacific left 10 runners on base.
In the second game, the Boxers scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning on a pair of 2-RBI doubles by Shikada and Chamberlain to take a 4-3 lead, but Chapman answered with a five-run fifth.
Muniz delivered the go-ahead runs with a 2-RBI double off Hanson who was charged with the loss. Hanson, starting pitcher
Shannon Miller (So., Vancouver, Wash.) and reliever Chamberlain combined to walk 11 batters in five innings in game two and the Boxers quartet of pitchers walked a total of 19 batters on the afternoon The second game was halted after two-and-a-half hours and five-and-a-half innings.
Nikki King (Fr., Medical Lake, Wash.) went 2 for 2 in the second game for Pacific, while Muniz scored two runs and James reached base three times, going 1 for 2 with a run and an RBI for Chapman. Kimmi Takahashi pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory for the Panthers.
The Boxers return to the field at the Northwest Cup Tournament, taking on College of Idaho and Concordia (Ore.) starting at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
