3/1/2008 - PACIFIC LUTHERAN 4-11, GEORGE FOX 1-1: Lutes Sweep Bruins with Extra-Base Barrage
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
NEWBERG, Ore. - Collecting a total of 26 hits, 12 of them for extra bases, the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes swept the George Fox University Bruins 4-1 and 11-1 as the Northwest Conference portion of the softball season got under way for both teams Saturday afternoon here at Morse Field.
George Fox took an early 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning of the first game when Shelby Briske drew a bases-loaded walk, forcing in Amber Philliber. The run was unearned because of a PLU error that kept the inning alive.
PLU responded in the top of the 4th as Heather Walling singled, went to third on a double by Rachel Wheeler-Hoyt, and both scored on a double by Vanessa Bryant. The Lutes added a pair of insurance runs in the 6th as Bryant doubled, Carly Starke doubled home pinch-runner Crystal Reno, and Starke scored on consecutive singles by Stephanie Mullen and Sheila Reiten.
The Lutes had 12 hits in the game, with Reiten, Walling, Wheeler-Hoyt and Bryant getting two apiece, but stranded nine runners.
Hadley Schmitt (3-2) picked up the win for the Lutes as she went the distance, allowing only four hits and one unearned run while striking out 10 with five walks. Natalie White (0-4) took the loss for the Bruins, surrendering 12 hits and four runs in a route-going performance with two strikeouts and two walks.
The Lutes had eight extra-base hits in the nightcap, including three home runs. In the top of the 1st, Lisa Gilbert had a RBI double and Mullen a run-scoring single in a three-run rally. The Bruins got their only run in the home half of the inning as Ashley Peterson singled and Ashley Olson drove her home with a double to right.
PLU added one run in the 2nd on a wild pitch, then broke the game open with four in the 3rd, Bryant and Wheeler-Hoyt each contributing two-run home runs, the first of the season for both. Gilbert doubled in a run and Bryant hit a second two-run blast in the 4th, giving the Lutes more than enough to have the game called after five innings by the eight-run rule.
Gilbert, Bryant, Mullen and Wheeler-Hoyt had two hits each in the Lutes' 14-hit attack. Peterson went 2-2 for the Bruins, half the team's hits.
Wheeler-Hoyt (1-2) picked up her first win, scattering four hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Torey Weatherman (0-4) allowed seven hits, seven runs and two walks in two-plus innings as the Bruins' starter, while White came on in relief and gave up seven hits and four runs, fanning three, in three innings.
George Fox (0-8-1, NWC 0-2) hosts the University of Puget Sound Sunday in a 12:00 noon doubleheader. Pacific Lutheran (4-4, NWC 2-0) visits Lewis & Clark College for a 12:00 noon twinbill.