3/9/2008 - WILLAMETTE 11-8, GEORGE FOX 1-2: Bearcats' Sweep of Bruins Includes First-Game No-Hitter
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
SALEM, Ore. - Nikki Franchi and Amy Valencia combined on a five-inning no-hitter in the first game and the Willamette University Bearcats collected 11 hits in the second game on their way to a Northwest Conference softball doubleheader sweep of the George Fox University Bruins 11-1 and 8-2 Sunday afternoon here at the WU softball field.
Franchi (3-2) threw four-plus hitless innings with seven strikeouts and one walk in the opener, and was charged with an unearned run in the 5th when Amber Philliber reached first base on an error to open the inning. Valencia replaced her, and after walking Natalie White, threw two wild pitches to score the run.
The Bearcats broke the game open against George Fox starter Torey Weathman (0-7) with a nine-run 2nd inning, capped by a three-run home run by Katie Peterson, her second of the season. Marissa Richards hit her fourth home run, a two-run shot, to close out the Willamette scoring in the 3rd.
Peterson was 3-3 with a double, home run, two runs scored and three RBI for Willamette, while Elizabeth Gilgan, Richards, and Franchi had two hits apiece. Richards also scored twice and drove in three runs, and Gilgan's two hits were a double and a triple.
Willamette took a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning of the nightcap on an RBI single by Richards and a sacrifice fly by Peterson. The Bruins tied it in the top of the 2nd, White scoring on a wild pitch by Bearcat starter Debra Bohren and Kerstyn Tsuruda laying down a bunt single with the bases loaded to plate Serena Lee.
The Bearcats broke the deadlock in the home half of the 2nd with an unearned run, Cirbi Anthony singling in Crystal Kummerfeldt, and put it away with four in the 4th. Franchi and LaShawna Holcomb had two-run singles in the frame, and the Bearcats added a final unearned run in the 5th.
Gilgan, Holcomb, Nicole Wallace, and Anthony had two hits each for Willamette, while Tsuruda had two hits among the Bruins' seven in the game.
Valencia (1-0) went the final five innings for the Willamette win, scattering four hits with two strikeouts and three walks and no runs allowed. White (0-7) went the distance for George Fox, fanning two and walking one.
George Fox (0-14-1, NWC 0-8) hosts Whitworth University next Saturday and Sunday, with doubleheaders at 12:00 noon both days. Willamette (6-2, NWC 4-2) is slated to host the University of Puget Sound those same two days, also in noon twinbills.