GAME ONE

GAME TWO

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Lewis & Clark softball team dropped two Northwest Conference games on Saturday afternoon at the Houston Sports Complex. The Pioneers came close to picking up two wins, falling to the Puget Sound Loggers 8-6 in game one, pulling within in two runs in the seventh inning of action. Game two saw the Pioneers fall 6-3 after holding an early 3-2 lead.

The Pioneers fall to 0-13 on the season and 0-8 in the NWC. The Loggers are now 2-8 overall and 2-8 in conference play.

The Loggers jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning of game one, before piling on three more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Senior Jessica Mullins put the Pioneers on the board in the bottom of the inning, hitting a two run home run over the left field fence. The ball sailed high into the trees, bringing Mullins and sophomore Caroline DeVincenzi in to score.

Brianna Huber increased the Logger lead back to five runs, with a hard hit home run in the fifth inning. The Pioneers posted runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, with Megan Andre scoring the Pios lone run in the fifth inning. Jess Mullins hit another monster home run in the sixth inning, this time over the fence in center field, to cut the Logger advantage to 8-4.

The Pioneers tried a huge comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning, which saw the Loggers intentionally walk Jess Mullins, loading the bases for Caitlin Relyea. With two outs and the bases loaded, Relyea did not crack under the pressure, hitting a single to left field that brought in two Pio runners, making the score 8-6. That would be as close as the Pioneers would come to the Loggers dropping the game.

Game two the Pioneers struck first on a Danielle Blechert single that brought home Jamie Moon in the bottom of the first. Puget Sound answered back with two runs in the top of the third inning, jumping ahead 2-1. DeVincenzi tied the game 2-2 in the bottom half of the inning, this time on a Logger error fielding error by the second baseman.

Michaela Satter handed the Pios the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, hitting her first home run of the season. The Loggers managed to put together a good sixth inning, taking advantage of Pioneer mistakes to tie the game 3-3.

Three runs in the top of the seventh inning was all it would take for the Loggers to seal the deal and the sweep of the NWC series.

The Pioneers return to the diamond on Sunday, March 14 at noon when they host Pacific Lutheran at the Houston Sports Complex.

 In the second game, the Pios struck first with a lone run in the bottom of the first and the Loggers weren't able to answer back until the top of the third when they used back-to-back RBI singles from Aryn Grause (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley) and Huber to take a 2-1 lead.  L&C tied it up with a solo run in the bottom of the third and then took the lead again on a home run in the bottom of the fifth but the Loggers used a RBI ground-out from Carolyn Moore (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names) to score Erika Hayes (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway) and tie the game at 3-3.

With the game tied heading into the top of the seventh, junior Alex Usher (Carson, Wash./Stevenson) ended the possibility of extra innings with a three-run home run and then Grause finished off the L&C hitters in the bottom of the frame to collect the 6-3 win.