3/30/2008 - GEORGE FOX 1-10, LEWIS & CLARK 0-8: Bruins Sweep Pioneers for First Wins of Season
Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2
NEWBERG, Ore. - They went about it in two different styles, but the George Fox University Bruins finally picked up their first two wins of the 2008 season in a 1-0 first-game pitchers' duel and a 10-8 second-game slugfest against the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers in Northwest Conference softball action Sunday afternoon here at Morse Field.
In the opener, the Pioneers' Nathalie Matson (1-10) and the Bruins' Natalie White (1-10) matched each other pitch for pitch before the Bruins finally broke through with an unearned run in the bottom of the 6th to pin the tough-luck loss on Matson. The Lewis & Clark righty allowed only four hits, striking out eight and walking none, while Bruin right-hander White was almost as stingy, spacing seven hits while fanning six and walking only one.
The lone run of the game came as Camille Jeffris led off the 6th by reaching on a fielding error at second. Two outs later, she stole second, and scored when Ashley Olson lined a single off the glove of left fielder Jessica Mullins. The Pios put two runners aboard in their final at bat in the 7th on a single by Sarah DiSabatino and a walk to Mullins, but White stranded them by catching Jamie Moon looking to end the game.
The Bruins won the nightcap by collecting 13 hits against Matson (1-11), who went the distance again for the Pios, but had to battle back from an early 6-0 deficit with a pair of five-run innings to do it. George Fox starter Torey Weatherman struggled with her control early, issuing a bases-loaded walk to Mullins and a sacrifice fly to Sheree Miura in the 1st, then was touched for four more runs in the 2nd, including an RBI double by Laura Parker and a two-run two-bagger by Mullins.
White (2-10) came on in the 2nd to get the final two outs, then shut the Pioneers down the rest of the way to pick up the come-from-behind win. She scattered five hits over 5.2 innings, struck out two and walked one.
The Bruins began their comeback in the 3rd as Shelby Briske slugged a two-run home run to left, her second of the season. Olson hustled a pop fly that dropped in right-center into a double and went to third as White beat out an infield single to short. After White stole second, Kristen Griffith reached on a single off the glove of Matson, scoring Olson and sending White to third. Serena Lee singled into the hole at short to score White, and Erin Lee singled up the middle to plate Griffith, cutting the gap to 6-5.
The visitors touched White for two runs in the 6th as Paige McFeeley singled, Moon bunted for a hit, Karyne Sander doubled in one run, and Parker hit a sacrifice fly to right for the other.
Erin Lee started the Bruins' winning rally in the last of the 6th with a line single to left, and Jeffris doubled to the wall in center, sending her to third. Both runners scored on Kerstyn Tsuruda's double into the gap in right-center. Briske reached on an error at short and stole second, then Olson was intentionally passed to load the bases. Tsuruda was forced at the plate on a bunt by White, but Griffith delivered Briske and Olson as the go-ahead runs with a single to center, and while she was caught in a rundown between first and second, White scored an important insurance run.
The Pios tried to rally in the 7th as Miura reached on an error at short and Kim Kittell singled into the hole at short, but White retired the next three hitters, getting a pop out to short, a strikeout, and then threw out Moon trying to bunt for a hit to end the game.
Briske, Olson, Griffith and Erin Lee had two hits each in the Bruins' 13-hit attack, with Griffith knocking in three runs. Parker and McFeeley had two hits apiece for the Pioneers, who had nine in all, while Mullins drove in three runs.
It was the first action in two weeks for the Bruins (2-18-1, NWC 2-12), who were have played the Pioneers (1-20, NWC 1-13) Saturday in Portland, but that doubleheader was postponed by rain and snow. The two teams will make up their missed twinbill Tuesday, Apr. 1, at 2:00 p.m. at the Huston Sports Complex in Portland.