PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark softball used a pair of home runs to earn a walk-off win in game one and four home runs in game two to earn a doubleheader sweep of Pacific Lutheran University on Sunday at the Huston Sports Complex. 

Kalea Kaui and Samantha Gildersleeve each hit home runs in both ends of the doubleheader and Alyssa Abe allowed four runs over 11 innings to earn a pair of conference wins. 

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KEY MOMENTS GAME ONE: Lewis & Clark 4-2 (8 Innings)  

With the Pioneers down to their final out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kaui blasted her first home run of the season to tie the game at 2-2. After a scoreless top of the eight, Gildersleeve crushed a two-run, two-out, walk-off homer to seal the thrilling comeback victory. 

Abe was extremely strong in the opener. She threw all eight innings and allowed just six hits, one walk and two runs on a pair of solo homers. She added five strikeouts. 

Offensively, Alyssa Hoeke was the only Pioneer to recorded multiple hits. She went 2-3 with a run scored. Mari Alvarez added a hit and an RBI and Riley Anderson worked a pair of walks. 

Lewis & Clark took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Hoeke beat out an infield single, stole second and third and raced home on an Alvarez sacrifice fly to right field.  

The visitors tied the game on a Casey Wright solo home run in the second and took the lead in the third on Chaella Galapon's solo homer. 

Things looked dire for the Pioneers from there. Lewis & Clark put runners on in each of their next four at bats, but had a runner thrown out at home in the third and left five runners on across the third to sixth innings. 

Pacific Lutheran nearly added to their lead in the top of the seventh inning. With a runner on second and two outs, Anderson made a diving catch in right field for the final out-to keep the deficit at 2-1. 

In the seventh, reliever Emma Ware retired the first two batters, before Kaui crushed a home run over the center-field fence. 

Abe retired the side in order in the top of the eighth to set up the walk-off in the bottom half.  

Mia Lopez led off the inning with a single but the next two batters were retired on a fly out and a fielder's choice. Gildersleeve then crushed a home run to right center field to give the Pioneers their third extra-inning win of the season. 

GAME TWO: LEWIS & CLARK 17-9 (5 Innings)  

The Pioneers used a pair of seven-run innings and scored the final 11 runs of the contest to earn the series split with the Lutes.  

Lewis & Clark racked up a season-high 17 hits and 17 runs scored in the five-inning, mercy-rule win. Seven Pioneers hitters finished with at least two hits, two RBI and a run scored in the victory. 

Riley Anderson (2-3, 2 runs, 4 RBI), Gildersleeve (2-3, 3 runs, 2 RBI), Kaui (2-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI) and Abe (2-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI) all hit home runs in the victory. 

Hoeke paced the team with three hits (3-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI) and Olivia Brackin and Alvarez tacked on two hits and two RBI of their own. 

In the circle, Abe came on in relief and threw three innings and allowed two earned runs to improve to 8-5 on the season. 

After a Pacific Lutheran home run in the top of the second made it 1-0, the Pioneers struck for seven runs in the bottom of the inning. 

Gildersleeve started the big inning with her second two-run homer in as many at-bats. Hoeke added a bases-loaded single to make it 3-0 and Anderson belted her first collegiate grand slam to make it 7-1. 

Pacific Lutheran responded back with eight runs in the top of the third to grab a 9-7 advantage. 

The Pioneers came roaring back in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded and no outs, Brackin tied the game with a two-run double. The Pioneers took the lead on a fly ball to left inning that resulted in a double play. After a Kaui single put runners on the corners, Abe delivered an RBI single and Hoeke and Alvarez (two-run) added RBI singles of their own to extend the lead to 14-9. 

Lewis & Clark earned the mercy-rule victory in the fifth. Kaui crushed a two-run home run to center field to put the Pioneers within one run of the eight-run rule. Abe greeted a Lutes reliever with a no-doubter to left field-for her first home run since her freshman campaign. 

DEEPER LOOK 

• The Pioneers 17 runs in game two marked their most runs scored in a single game since February 21, 2016, when softball scored 23 runs in both ends of a doubleheader against Walla Walla Community College. 
• Gildersleeve's walk-off home run in game one was her third collegiate walk-off homer. She hit walk-off home runs in conference play last season against the University of Puget Sound (April 24) and Pacific University (May 1). She now has 20 home runs in 48 collegiate games. 
• Hoeke extended her hitting streak to five games on Sunday. She is 10-17 with six runs, two RBI, one walk and three stolen bases (3-3) during that span. 
• Abe is now one win away from her 2021 total. The junior won nine games as a sophomore en-route to a spot on the NWC Second Team. Nine wins is also the most by a Pioneers pitcher since Jauna Williams earned 11 victories in 2022. 
• After a slow start to the season, Kaui hit safely in all four games this weekend and registered her first three extra-base hits, first two home runs and first four RBI. She finished the weekend 5-9 with three runs, four RBI, one double, two home runs and three walks. 
• With the doubleheader sweep, Lewis & Clark moved into a three-way tie for fourth-place in the Northwest Conference. The Pioneers (5-7) are tied with Whitworth (5-7) and Pacific (5-7) for fourth-place.

LOOKING AHEAD 

Lewis & Clark will host league-leaders and sixth-ranked Linfield University for a conference doubleheader on Tuesday at Noon and 2 p.m.