For the second-straight day, the Pacific University softball team split its two games on the final day of the 2018 NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic in Tucson, Arizona. The Boxers started the day with a 9-1 loss in six innings to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before bouncing back for an exciting 5-4 win over Rochester in its final game.
 
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (11-4) scored nine runs off three Pacific relievers in the final three innings for the win.

Pacific (8-2) took a 1-0 lead on the Athenas on a RBI single in the third inning by Katelynn Macatis-Smith (Salem, Ore.). Earlier in the inning, Kiana Kushiyama (Beaverton, Ore.) singled with one out and advanced to second on a Boxers' sacrifice bunt. A Jill Uyeda (Gresham, Ore.) single put runners on the corners for Macatis-Smith. Uyeda and Kushiyama each had two hits in a seven-hit attack for the Boxers in the loss.
 
The nightcap against Rochester saw the Boxers come back from a 4-1 deficit to post the 5-4 win. Kushiyama had three hits for her third-straight multi-hit game to lead Pacific. Plus, the Boxers had double digit hits for the third time on the season. Alyssa Burns (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) came out of the bullpen, pitching the final 5.2 innings of three-hit relief to improve to 3-1.
 
Rochester (0-6) scored three runs in the first inning before the Boxers got on the scoreboard on a RBI single by Kushiyama in the second. The Yellowjackets got back on the scoreboard in the second inning with a run to make it 4-1.
 
After stranding the bases loaded in the third, the comeback for the Boxers started in the fifth inning when they plated a run on a Trisha Snydar (Lynden, Wash.) sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-2. Then, the Boxers plated three runs on three hits including a two out RBI single by Macatis-Smith that put Pacific ahead for the first time in the game.
 
The Yellowjackets mounted threats in the sixth and seventh inning. In both innings, the YellowJackets had the tying run in scoring position. In the bottom of the seventh, Rochester loaded the bases on a double and a Boxer error. Then, Burns picked up a ground out to seal the win for Pacific.
 
Pacific will next be on the road for a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 10 and Sunday, Mar. 11 at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.