Box Score, Gm. 1
Box Score, Gm. 2
SALEM – The good news first: Pacific committed just one error on Sunday and
Chelsey Chamberlain (Sr., Grants Pass, Ore.) launched her fourth home run of the season.
The bad news: pretty much everything that happened after Chamberlain's solo shot put Pacific on top of Willamette 1-0 in the top of the first inning in game one of their Northwest Conference doubleheader on Sunday. Pacific managed just one hit the rest of the afternoon as the Bearcats dominated the Boxers, winning game one 9-1 and game two 11-0. Both contests ended in the fifth inning by the eight-run mercy rule.
The Bearcats (10-4 Northwest Conference, 11-8 overall) tattooed Pacific's ailing pitching staff for 20 hits in just eight turns at bat. Willamette scored three or more runs in five of the eight innings, while their pitchers held Pacific (6-10, 8-16) to just one hit in each game of the doubleheader.
In game one, Chamberlain was the only Boxer to reach base against Willamette pitcher Alex Watilo (8-3) until the fifth inning. After Chamberlain's two-out bomb in the first inning, Watilo retired eight in a row until walking Chamberlain with one out in the fourth.
After Chamberlain did not take the field defensively on Saturday to rest an ailing back, the senior righthander gave it a go in the circle on Sunday, but struggled with her command. Chamberlain (4-3) hit four Bearcat batters in the first two innings. Three hit batters in the second inning led to three Willamette runs as Yvonne Drabin drove in two with a single and another run crossed the plate on an error.
Jenn Yano (Fr., Ontario, Ore.) came on in relief to get the final out in a scoreless third inning, but the freshman hurler ran into trouble in the fourth, giving up three consecutive home runs, including a three-run blast off the bat of Theresa Martin, as the Bearcats put up a six-spot to put the game in the mercy seat.
Game two got away in a hurry as the Bearcats ambushed Boxer pitchers Chamberlain and
Shannon Miller for nine hits and eight runs in the first two innings. Martin hit her second home run of the day, a grand slam off Miller in the second, on the way to a seven RBI day. Chamberlain (4-5) took the loss after giving up three runs on four hits and three walks in her only inning of work.
As the Bearcats built a commanding early lead, Hayley Glantz (3-5) limited the Boxers to one hit, a
Kaitlyn Shikada (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) single in the third inning. Glantz struck out four and walked only one, allowing only one runner to reach second base in a five-inning shutout.
Chamberlain had Pacific's most productive day at the plate, officially going 1 for 2 with two walks. For Willamette, Martin went 3 for 5 with three runs, Mica Romero went 3 for 5 with a run, Courtney Galli scored three runs with two batted in and Suzannah Von Trapp had all three of her hits in three game two at bats, scoring one run after driving in two in game one.
The Boxers, who lost all four games this weekend by the eight-run rule in five innings, will dust themselves off as they take a two-week respite from conference competition. Pacific will travel to Ashland on Wednesday to take on NAIA Southern Oregon University in a noon doubleheader.
