SPOKANE, Wash. — Host Whitworth scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie, and then shut down Pacific in the seventh to claim a 4-2 win in the opening game of the Northwest Conference Softball Championship Tournament.

The No. 1 seed Pirates improved to 29-11 on the season with the win at Diana Marks Field. The Boxers are now 25-15-1 and will play at 2 p.m. today in a loser's out game in the double elimination tournament, against George Fox.

Pacific used the long ball to get on the scoreboard in this game. Solo home runs by Ashley Mitchell in the first inning and another bomb by Quirena Natividad in the top of the sixth accounted for Pacific's only runs in the contest. Mitchell's shot gave the Boxers an early 1-0 lead that held up for three innings.

That was because lefthander Marissa Reichard was dealing blanks against the Pirates. Through three innings, she had allowed only one hit, no runs and had fanned three. But in the fourth, Whitworth put together a two-out rally when Kelsey Downey singled and then came home on Michelle Silva's two-run home run.

That's how the score stayed until the fateful bottom of sixth, when a lead-off walk jump started the rally for Whitworth. A wild pitch followed, an error and base hits by Downey and pinch hitter Morgan Portlock, allowing two Pirate runs to cross the plate. Whitworth ace Makayla Lefever then put Pacific down in order in the seventh.

Lefever improved to 19-3 on the season, allowing only two singles by Trisha Snydar and Nalani Antonio in addition to the home runs from Mitchell and Natividad. She didn't walk a batter and she struck out five.

Reichard took the loss (17-7), giving up five hits, four runs, and three walks. She struck out six.