FOREST GROVE – For the first time in over 16 years, the Pacific softball team earned a series sweep over the Linfield Wildcats as the Boxers topped Linfield 1-0 in game one and 3-1 in an eight inning second game at Sherman/Larkins Stadium on Sunday.
 
Ashley Mitchell (Jr., Redmond, Wash.) drove in the game-winning run in the days opener, before ripping a walk-off home run to left-centerfield in the bottom of the eight inning in game two.
 
Marissa Reichard (Jr., Oregon City, Ore.) and Jessica Hotaling (Jr., Oregon City, Ore.) both impressed in the circle for Pacific as each earned their fifth win of the year. Reichard threw a complete game two-hit shutout as she faced two batters over the minimum in the day's opening game. Hotaling tossed all eight innings for Pacific and did not walk a batter or surrender an earned run in the game two victory.
 
Pacific hits the road next weekend as the Boxers head to Spokane, Wash., for a four-game set with the Whitworth Pirates. The Boxers and Pirates are scheduled to open the series at noon on March 14.
 
Game One: Pacific 1, No. 17 Linfield 0
The opening game of Sunday's doubleheader saw Reichard score the game-winning run and earn a complete game shutout as the Boxers topped the Wildcats 1-0.
 
Reichard, who was perfect through three innings, sat down the Wildcats in order to open the game before taking her place in the batters box with one out in the bottom of the first. After fouling off a 3-2 pitch from her counterpart, Montana McNealy, Reichard laced a line drive single to right field and became the first baserunner of the afternoon.
 
After stealing second, Reichard hustled to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a single through the 5-6-infield gap by Mitchell.
 
Neither team managed to plate another run in the first game, but both sides saw opportunities in the later innings. Linfield put a runner on base with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, but saw a stolen base erased by the umpire ruling that the pinch runner had left first early, which ended the frame for the Wildcats.
 
The bottom of the fifth saw Jordan Schmerbauch (So., Mililani, Hawaii) reach on a dropped third strike, before reaching second on a bunt single by Rachel Roberts (Jr., Oregon City, Ore.). A pop-up and double play retired the Boxers as Schmerbauch was left stranded at second.
 
The sixth inning saw Linfield put runners on second twice, but Reichard escaped trouble when she forced Jen Tautfest ground out to shortstop.
 
Reichard battled through multiple pinch hitters in the bottom off the seventh as she finished the game with nine-pitch inning of work.
 
Pacific's game one victory was the first Boxers win over Linfield since the 2009 season and snapped Linfield's 26-game winning streak against the Boxers.
 
Game Two: Pacific 3, No. 17 Linfield 1 (8 innings)
Quirena Natividad (Jr., Waipahu, Hawaii) and Megan Winans (Jr., Hood River, Ore.) each delivered a pair of hits, before Mitchell's eighth inning homer earned Pacific its first sweep of Linfield since the 1998 season.
 
The Wildcats opened game two with runners on first and second with one out, but Hotaling continued Pacific's strong pitching performances on the day by inducing a lineout and fly out to retire Linfield in the first.
 
The two sides were unable to threaten the scoreboard again until the bottom of the fourth as Roberts led off the frame with an infield single. A groundout advanced Roberts to second, while an error by Linfield catcher McKenna Spieth allowed Roberts to reach third safely.
 
Roberts was unable to cross the plate as a groundout and line out wrapped up the offensive half of the inning for Pacific.
 
The top of the fifth saw one of the best defensive plays of the game as a one-out double to right center by Cheyenne Fletcher looked as though it would score Erin Kinney and give Linfield a 1-0 lead over the Boxers. Winans collected the ball off the outfield grass and hit Roberts, who cutoff the throw and rifled the ball to Kylee Oshiro (Sr., Aiea, Hawaii) at the plate. Roberts' throw easily bet Kinney to the plate, where the Wildcats' baserunner was tagged out by Oshiro.
 
Pacific looked to carry momentum from the defensive play into the bottom of the inning, but a bases loaded pop up ended the inning and left the game scoreless heading into the sixth.
 
The two sides kept one another off the scoreboard through the final two scheduled innings, pushing the game into extra frames.
 
The top of the eighth opened with Fletcher knocking a single to left, followed by two-straight Linfield popups. An error as Pacific attempted to double-up Fletcher on the second popup of the inning, moved the Linfield base runner to third. A second Pacific error allowed Fletcher to score before Kaitlyn Shikada (Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii) speared a line drive out of the air for the third out of the inning.
 
The Boxers opened the bottom of the eighth with a popup, before Hotaling helped her own cause with a double down the right field line. Natividad matched Hotaling with a double of her own, as the Boxers' designated player doubled up the middle. A creative slide at the plate by Hotaling tallied the Boxers' first run of the game, while Natividad hustled to third on the throw.
 
With the game tied, one out and Natividad on third, Mitchell strolled to the plate and took the first pitch she saw for a ball. A strike, two balls and a foul ball off the bat of Mitchell left the count as full for the Boxers' clean-up hitter. After battling with Linfield's Maddy Dunn and fouling off a 3-2 pitch, Mitchell smashed a high line drive into the netting above the left-centerfield fence to give Pacific a 3-1 victory over the ranked Wildcats.