GAME 1: Pacific 5, Puget Sound 1
GAME 2: Pacific 14, Puget Sound 10
TACOMA – Dodging not only raindrops but snowflakes on a wet, chilly day in the South Sound, the Pacific softball team swept a pair of Northwest Conference games in contrasting fashion.
The Boxers opened conference play by defeating Puget Sound 5-1 in a game one pitcher's duel, then outslugged the Loggers for a 14-10 victory and twinbill sweep, improving to 4-6 overall. Puget Sound was playing its first games of the season.
Chelsey Chamberlain (Sr., Grants Pass, Ore.) went the distance in the circle in game one, striking out 11 with just two walks and three hits allowed for the win, her first of the season. The Boxers scratched out just five hits against Loggers' pitcher Aryn Grouse, but three of them delivered runs as Pacific scored all five of its runs with two outs.
Becca Moen (So., Gresham, Ore.) opened game one with a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on a two-out single by
Lauren Tuey (Sr., Redlands, Calif.) giving Pacific a 1-0 lead.
Jenna Stevens (So., Medford, Ore.) delivered a two-out, two-RBI single, scoring Jenny Yano (Fr., Ontario, Ore.) and
Nikki King (Fr., Medical Lake, Wash.) to put the Boxers up 3-0 in the second inning. The Boxers tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning, when
Kaitlyn Shikada (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) stole third and scampered home on an errant throw by Loggers' catcher Chrissy Atterson. Stevens followed with her second hit and third RBI of the game, plating Moen with a two-out single to give Pacific a 5-0 lead.
Puget Sound scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Amy Schmeckpepper in the fourth inning, but Chamberlain allowed only two more base runners the rest of the way, fanning Tahni Ahrdnt and Jessica Holt back-to-back to end the game.
A relatively quick opening game was followed by a drawn-out affair, featuring 23 combined hits, nine bases on balls and seven errors. Pacific scored nine runs in the final two innings to win the back-and-forth, two-and-a-half hour affair.
Chamberlain smacked a 2-RBI double and Tuey followed two batters later with a two-RBI home run in a four-run Pacific sixth inning, putting the Boxers in front 9-5. With two outs and the bases clear in the bottom of the inning, Puget Sound's Elayna Van Hess hit a grounder to short, but the throw to first was dropped by
Ashley Billingsley (Sr., Gresham, Ore.). That opened the door for a four-run rally, capped by a game-tying double by Joleen Monfiletto to make it 9-9.
Undaunted, Pacific responded with five runs in the top of the seventh, Tuey providing another big blow with a 2-RBI double and Stevens added a 2-RBI single.
Chloe Hanson (Fr., Trail, Ore.) took the win in relief, allowing five hits and five runs, all unearned, in 2 2/3 innings of relief. Hanson struck out two and did not walk a batter.
Tuey and Stevens each had three hits and drove in five runs on the day. Moen, King and Shikada scored three runs each for the Boxers, who take on Pacific Lutheran in a noon doubleheader Saturday.
