As Conference play looms for the Pacific softball team the Boxers welcomed fellow Northwest Conference school Pacific Lutheran to town for a scheduled non-conference four-game series. The series turned into a two-game set as Mother Nature canceled the doubleheader on Sunday with rain, that coming after a split on Saturday.
Pacific Lutheran took the first game on Saturday 12-3 in five innings, while the Boxers responded with a walk-off win in the second game claiming an 8-7 win.
Falling behind early in game one the Boxers were down 6-0 before getting on the board themselves breaking through in the bottom of the third with their only runs of the game. A
Kiana Kushiyama triple brought in a pair of runs in the third, while
Montana Vaught added an RBI double to tally another and the Boxers cut the Lutes lead in half at that point. But the offense for Pacific Lutheran was just to much as they kept scoring answering with four runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth and the Boxers fell 12-3 in five innings.
In the loss Kushiyama was 1-2 with a triple, run scored and two RBI's, while Vaught was 1-2 with a double and RBI.
Elizabeth Young,
Sydney Sahlfeld,
Nicole Martinez, and
Jill Uyeda each also had a hit. Inside the circle five pitchers saw action for the Boxers.
Game two was heads and tails different than the first as it was a back-and-forth affair between the Boxers and Lutes. Pacific Lutheran got on the board first with three runs in the first inning on a pair of home runs but in the bottom of third the Boxers tied the game at 3-3 as Kushiyama, Vaught, and Sahlfeld each brought in runs. Pacific took the lead on a Lutes error in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-3. Lead swung back to Pacific Lutheran as they tallied four runs in the top of the fifth to make it 7-4. Not to be out down the Boxers tied the game back up with three runs in the bottom of the fifth as a Sahlfeld RBI double highlighted the inning.
After holding the Lutes off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh the Boxers got a single by
Jayden Sykes to lead off the bottom of the seventh followed by bunt singles by
Nicole Martinez and
Kiana Kushiyama to load the bases. Vaught stepped up to the plate and delivered an RBI walk-off single for the 8-7 Boxer win.
The Boxers pounded out 18 hits in the win with Kushiyama leading the way going 4-5 with a run scored and an RBI, while Vaught was 3-5 with two RBI's and an run scored.
Hailey Miller added a 3-4 performance, while
Marcee Nakamura, Sykes, and Martinez each had a two-hit game.
Cheyenne Datan earned the win in the circle tossing two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
Pacific now turns their attention to Conference action as they are set to host Linfield for a four-game series Saturday and Sunday, March 20th and 21st.
