SALEM, Ore. – Pacific Softball split a pair of games on Friday afternoon against Willamette University. The Boxers took the first game by a score of 12-6 before the Bearcats took the second game 12-7.
Annika McNeel (Senior/Beaverton, OR) went two for four in game one before adding another hit in game two. She added a run scored to her stat line in game one.
Riley Patton (Senior/Eastvale, CA) had a very productive day at the plate tallying five hits in eight at bats. Four of those hits came in game two.
Game 1
The Boxers scored twice in their first turn at the plate when McNeel and Petitt set the table with back-to-back singles. Both runners would come around to score on a pair of sacrifice flies from
Elizabeth Young (Senior/Port Orchard, WA) and
Sydney Rusin (Junior/Portland, OR).
Willamette cut the deficit in half with one run in the bottom half of the inning, and the two teams would go scoreless in the second frame.
In the home half of the third, the Bearcats rallied for three runs to take the lead.
Carli Zanassi (Freshman/Bothell, WA) led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run, her first of the season, to trim the Willamette advantage to just one run. Pacific evened things up in the following inning when Young slapped a single to right field before Rusin plated the Boxer catcher with another sacrifice fly.
Both teams were unable to break the tie in the seventh and the contest would head to extra innings. Neither team would score in the eighth but Pacific would regain the lead in the ninth. Rusin and
Ashley Gamble (Freshman/ Paia, HI) reached with base hits and both runners advanced 60 feet on a wild pitch.
MiKaila Neilson (Junior/Frenchtown, MT) came through with an infield hit to give her team the lead and Zanassi laced one up the middle to put the Boxers up by two.
Base hits from
Nicole Leadley (Junior/Bothell, WA) and McNeel would make the score 7-4 but the offensive barrage continued when an error allowed two more Boxers to come across. Patton provided the big swing with the bases loaded to put the game away, a two-RBI single.
The hosts put up a two spot in the final frame but Rusin work her way out of the jam to earn the win and clinch the series opener for Pacific. The Portland, Ore. native tossed the final 6.2 innings, surrendering just three hits and two earned runs in her excellent relief outing.
Game 2
The host Bearcats opened up the scoring in game two in the bottom of the first with a one out sacrifice fly. The Boxers however would respond in the top of the second to take a 3-1 lead. The runs would be provided from the bats on
Michelle Winfield (Junior/Beaverton, OR) who reached on an error, McNeel who had an RBI single and Samantha Petit (Junior/Tigard, OR) who provided the final run of the inning on another RBI single.
The score would stay at 3-1 until the bottom of the fourth when the Bearcats scored a run pulling within one.
Yet again, the Boxers would respond to the Bearcats scoring when they took a 7-2 lead in the top of the fifth. Zanassi would hit a single down the left field line to load the bases with one out. Neilson would provide a swing that scored a run following the fielder's choice and a muffed throw from the catcher. Leadley would single home a run in the following at bat which led to Winfield producing a two RBI single and pushing the Boxers lead to 7-2.
The Bearcats needed to opening up the scoring in the bottom of the sixth when they trailed by five heading into the inning. They would do just that having a 10-run inning taking a 12-7 lead.
The visitors from Forest Grove would get a runner on base in the seventh but would run out of outs giving the Bearcats the game two win.
Up Next
The Boxers will conclude the series with Willamette on Sunday afternoon. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12 p.m.
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