Northwest Conference play opened up over the weekend for the Boxer softball team as Pacific hosted Linfield for a four-game series. The Boxers were unable to get things going consistently throughout the weekend suffering losses in all four contests to Linfield falling 14-2 in six innings and 8-7 on Saturday and 8-0 in six innings and 13-0 in five innings on Sunday.
Game one saw Linfield pounce early for four runs before the Boxers got on the board in the bottom of third on a RBI single by
Kiana Kushiyama but Linfield tagged the Boxers for 10 runs in the fifth and sixth while only tallying one more themselves to fall 14-2.
In the loss Kushiyama went 3-3 with two RBI's while Syndey Sahlfeld was 2-3 as the two accounted for five of the teams six hits in the loss.
Game two proved to be the tightest contest of the weekend but saw Linfield score first with two runs in the top of third. Pacific responded with a three-run bottom of the third highlighted by a RBI double from Sahlfeld and the Boxers added to their lead with four runs in the fourth led by a three-run home run by
Montana Vaught. Up 7-4 the Boxers saw Linfield push back scoring three runs in the six and three more in the seventh to snag the lead and ultimately the Boxers were unable to answer falling 8-7.
Boxers pounded out 14 hits in the loss with Vaught pacing the way going 3-4 with a double, home run, two runs scored and four RBI, while
Jill Uyeda,
Marcee Nakamura, and
Nicole Martinez each had two hits.
On Sunday it was all Linfield over the course of both games as the Wildcats got on the board early in the first game and tacked on runs over the course of the contest holding the Boxers to just three hits as the game finished 8-0 in favor for the Wildcats. In the loss Nakamura, Uyeda, and Vaught each had a hit for the Boxers.
The final game of the four-game series saw the Boxers stymied by the pitching Tayah Kelley who tossed a perfect game against Pacific while the Linfield offense tallied 13 runs to finish the game early at 13-0 in five innings.
Boxers fall to 5-9 on the season with the 0-4 weekend and will be on the look out for their first Conference wins of the season when they continue the season with more Northwest Conference action for the Boxers as they will take on George Fox for a four-game series on the road on March 27th and 28th.
