SALEM, Ore. – Ashley Mitchell homered twice on the day, while two more Boxers left the yard as Pacific swept Willamette 2-0 and 9-4 at the Willamette Softball Field.
 
Mitchell (Jr., Redmond, Wash.) and Rachel Roberts (Jr., Oregon City, Ore.) finished the opener 2-3 from the plate, while Marissa Reichard (Jr., Forest Grove, Ore.) struck out six and earned her fourth victory of the season in the circle. Game two saw Mitchell finish 4-4 with four runs batted in, as Jessica Hotaling (Jr., Oregon City, Ore.) won her fourth game of the year for Pacific.
 
The Boxers return to Sherman/Larkins Stadium on Sunday for a doubleheader with No. 17 Linfield set to begin at noon.
 
Game One: Pacific 2, Willamette 0
Mitchell and Margaret Bachmeier (So., Newberg, Ore.) both drove in a run as the Boxers earned a 2-0 victory in the opening game of Saturday's road doubleheader.
 
After a scoreless first inning, Mitchell started things off for Pacific in the second by sending the third pitch she saw over the left field wall for a leadoff home run. Kylee Oshiro (Sr., Aiea, Hawaii) was hit by a pitch following Mitchell's solo homer and promptly stole second and third.
 
With a 2-2 count, Bachmeier singled up the middle to plate Oshiro for the second runoff the afternoon.
 
Kylee Yamamoto (Jr., Mililani, Hawaii) reached second with one out in the third, but was unable to advance before the frame ended and allowed for Reichard to make short work of the Bearcats as she sat Willamette down in-order.
 
Neither team was able to plate a run following Pacific's pair of runs in the second, but the Bearcats looked to take advantage of their best chance in the bottom of the seventh when Mallory Asaro opened the inning with an infield single. A Bearcats sacrifice moved pinch runner Carrie Fox to second, before she reached third on a Myranda Ramirez single.
 
With runners on the corners, Reichard and the Boxers held the Bearcats off the board with Fox being caught in a rundown between third and home before Heather Winslow struck out to end game one.
 
Game Two: Pacific 9, Willamette 4
For the second-straight game a home run came off the bat of Mitchell, as she left the ballpark alongside Kiera Melton (Sr., Pleasanton, Calif.) and Haley Kodama (Fr., Manana, Hawaii).
 
Hotaling snagged her fourth win of the season, while delivering one strikeout on the day.
 
After waiting an inning to score the opening run of game one, Pacific started with a run in the first of game two. Roberts and Hotaling led off the game with back-to-back singles and soon the pair was off running as they stole second and third, respectively. After a Yamamoto ground out, Mitchell helped Roberts across the plate with a single to left to give Pacific an early 1-0 lead.
 
The Bearcats answered in the bottom of the second when an error and a sacrifice saw Erin Norris reach second with one out. Molly Lathrop replaced Norris as a pinch runner and with two outs reached third on a Ramirez single. Once on third, Lathrop stole home and grabbed Willamette its first run of the day.
 
Pacific did not let the tie game last for long Kodama delivered a one-out pinch hit single to left before Yamamoto singled to put runners on first and second for Mitchell. After seeing only one pitch in her at-bat, Mitchell ripped her second homer of the day as she sent a three-run homer over the leftfield fence.
 
A scoreless bottom of the third for Willamette was followed by a fourth inning that saw Hotaling draw a walk and Kodama hammer the first home run of her collegiate career, which gave Pacific a 7-1 lead over the home side.
 
Neither team was able to score over the next two innings until the bottom of the sixth saw Amanda Absher walk with one out in the frame. Fox pinch ran for Absher and headed to second when Norris was hit by a pitch. The bases loaded up when Elaine Norcia drew a walk.
 
With two outs and the bases loaded, Danielle Saunders singled to left center to plate the first run of the inning, only to see two more Bearcats cross the plate on a single from Ramirez.
 
Hotaling returned to the circle for the final out of the sixth inning to return the Boxers to the batters box with a 7-4 advantage.
 
The top of the seventh saw Melton send a two-run homer to left following a Kaitlyn Shikada (Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii) hit by pitch, which put the exclamation point on Pacific's nine-run afternoon.
 
Hotaling sat the Bearcats down in-order to close the door on Willamette's half of the seventh inning.