FOREST GROVE, Ore. — For the second day in a row, the Pacific softball team won the first game in decisive fashion and then lost a nail bitter in the nightcap in a battle with Northwest Conference foe George Fox at Sherman/Larkins Stadium.
On Sunday, the Boxers won the first game 6-0 behind the four-hit shutout pitching of
Marissa Reichard, but dropped the second contest to the Bruins in extra innings (8), 3-2. On Saturday, Pacific won the opener 7-4 with Reichard getting the win and the Bruins claiming the second game, 3-1.
The two squads remain deadlocked in NWC play at 11-9, bound in a three-way tie for third place. George Fox is now 21-11 on the season and the Boxers are 19-12-1.
In Sunday's noon game, Reichard went the distance to improve to 13-5 on the season. The Forest Grove native didn't allow a run, gave up just four hits, didn't walk a batter and fanned four. She survived Bruin runners reaching third base in the third and fourth innings, but worked out of each jam. She retired 12 of the final 13 batters that she faced. It was the senior lefthander's third shutout of the year.
Her offense would give her all the runs that she would need in the first inning. The first three Boxer batters reached base via single (
Rachel Roberts,
Kaitlynn Donaca and
Trisha Snydar), with Roberts and Donaca later crossing the plate. Snydar would single to drive home Roberts in the fourth inning to make the count 3-0, Boxers.
Pacific blew the game wide open in the fifth when
Ashley Mitchell led off with a home run and Reichard and Roberts followed with RBI singles to make it 6-0. It was Mitchell's sixth home run of the season, and she would add to that total in the second game.
Roberts would finish with three hits, two runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. Reichard, Donaca and Snydar added two hits each in Pacific's 12-hit attack.
In the second game, Mitchell got the Boxers on the board first with a solo homer (her seventh) in the fourth inning. Meanwhile, Reichard stepped into the pitcher's circle again and rolled through the first five innings of play, allowing only four hits and no runs.
But for the second day in a row, Courtney Howard changed the course of the game for the Bruins. On Saturday, Howard's three-run homer accounted for all of GFU's runs in their 3-1 win. In Sunday's sixth inning, the Bruin catcher connected on a Reichard pitch for a two-run round-tripper to give the visitors a 2-1 lead and chase Reichard from the circle.
With George Fox still leading 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Boxers rallied back.
Quirena Natividad singled to right field to kick start the inning. A Bruin error moved Natividad to third base and
Nalani Antonio's single brought her home to tie the game at 2-2. The Boxers loaded the bases, but GFU's Abbie Bergerson came out of the bullpen to put out the fire and send the game to extra innings.
In the Bruin eighth, Amanda Woods led off the inning with a double and then traded places with Annie Veatch, who hit a two-bagger to right field to give George Fox a 3-2 lead. Bergerson then put the home team down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning for the Bruin win and series split.
Woods had three hits for the Bruins in the second game and Bergerson got the win to improve to 10-2 on the season.
Cassie Apple took the loss in relief for the Boxers (2-2), while Mitchell led Pacific on offense with two hits, including the home run.
The Boxers will take on Lewis & Clark in a four-game series next Saturday and Sunday (April 9-10).
