Box Score Gm. 1
Box Score, Gm. 2
PORTLAND – The 2012 season has seen its share of frustrations, but the Pacific softball team ended a trying campaign on a winning note.
The Boxers (11-17 Northwest Conference, 13-23 overall) swept both ends of a doubleheader Sunday, with a 3-2 victory in game one and a 5-4, 9-inning win in game two at Lewis & Clark. The Boxers capped a losing campaign by winning their final series three games to one over the Pioneers (3-25, 5-33).
Pacific had just three hits in the game one victory, but scored all of its runs on two swings of the bat.
Becca Moen (So., Gresham, Ore.) clobbered her first career home run, a two-run shot in the third inning to put the Boxers up 2-0.
Chelsey Chamberlain (Sr., Grants Pass, Ore.) led off the sixth inning with her eighth home run of the season, an important insurance run as it turns out.
Chamberlain threw five innings of two-hit ball, allowing one earned run with six strikeouts and two walks.
Chloe Hanson (Fr., Trail, Ore.) came on to pitch the sixth inning with the Boxers leading 3-1. After retiring the first two Pioneer batters, Hanson gave up a solo home run to Moriah Lane. Both Chamberlain and Lane left the yard for the second day in a row.
Hanson coaxed an inning-ending groundout from Caitlin McCormick before retiring the side in the seventh inning to earn the save.
Madison Hollenbeck was tough on the Boxers for the second day in a row, going the distance with six strikeouts and two walks. One hit batter by the Pioneer hurler came back to haunt her as
Kiera Melton (Fr., Pleasanton, Calif.) reached base with two outs in the third inning. Moen followed with a two-run blast, one of three hits on the day for the speedy sophomore outfielder, who finished the season as Pacific's leading hitter (.337).
All of the scoring in game one came on home runs. Jet'aime Mullins hit a solo shot in the bottom of the third inning to cut Pacific's lead in half. The Pioneers threatened to tie or take the lead in the fourth inning after putting runners on second and third with one out. Caitlin Basilio followed with a fly ball to center field.
Kaylene Sudbeck (Fr., Caldwell, Idaho) made the catch then gunned down pinch running Maddie Lee at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
Chamberlain retired the side in order in the fifth before giving way to Hanson as Lane's home run was Lewis & Clark's only baserunner in the final three innings.
There were no home runs in game two, but plenty of offense. The Pioneers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning only to see the Boxers respond with four in the third inning to tie the game. With the game knotted at 5-5 in the top of the ninth, Chamberlain doubled and scored on a 2-out single by
Ashley Billingsley (Sr., Gresham, Ore.) to plate the winning run.
Chamberlain went 3 for 5 at the plate in her final game as a Boxer, leading the way offensively with four hits on the day. Chamberlain drove in a run with an RBI single in Pacific's 4-run fourth inning.
Kaitlyn Shikada (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) added a 2-RBI double in the frame.
Shikada also singled and scored on Moen's RBI double in the sixth inning as Pacific took a 5-4 lead. Lewis & Clark evened the score on a RBI double by Mullins in the bottom of the frame, the only run allowed by Pacific pitcher
Shannon Miller (So., Vancouver, Wash.) in eight innings of sterling relief work.
The Pioneers put their first four batters on base in the first inning against Pacific starting pitcher
Chloe Hanson, who allowed four runs, three earned on five hits in an inning-plus, coming out for Miller after giving up leadoff double to Basilio in the second inning. Miller proceeded to strike out the first two batters she faced, getting Caroline DeVincenzi on a ground out to third base to end the threat. Miller struck out five and walked three in the win.
Hollenbeck tossed the final five innings for Lewis & Clark and was charged with the loss. Mullins went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI, while Basilio and Kelsey Buck each had two hits for the Pios, who outhit Pacific 12 to 11.
The Boxers finished the season in sixth place in the NWC, one game behind fifth-place Whitworth, which split its final series with George Fox.
