PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College softball's comeback efforts fell just short in game two, as the #12 Linfield University Wildcats earned a pair of Northwest Conference wins on Tuesday at the Huston Sports Complex. 

Mari Alvarez went 3-4 with a solo home run in game two to help the Pioneers nearly come back from a 5-1 deficit against the NWC league-leaders.

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KEY MOMENTS GAME ONE: #12 LINFIELD 15-4 (5 INNINGS) 

Linfield hit five home runs and posted three innings with four or more runs scored to earn a 15-4, five-inning win over the Pioneers.

Half of the Wildcats 18 hits (four doubles, five home runs) went for extra bases as Linfield earned their fifth-straight conference win.  

A week after being shutout by Linfield ace Tayah Kelley, the Pioneers struck for two runs in the first inning against Kelley and doubled their run total from last Tuesday's doubleheader. 

Senior Olivia Brackin (two-run) and junior Kalea Kaui (solo) each hit home runs to stay red-hot for the Pioneers. 

Alyssa Hoeke and Riley Anderson each finished with a single and a run scored and Hoeke tacked on a walk. 

Linfield struck for four two-out runs in the top of the first to immediately take control of the contest. 

The Pioneers cut the deficit in half over the next two innings. In the first, Hoeke walked, Alvarez singled and Anderson reached on a bunt single to load the bases. With one out, Lily Moffitt drove a ball to right field to easily plate Hoeke. 

Kaui made it a 4-2 game in the second when she crushed a leadoff home run over the left-field fence. 

Linfield answered with a home run of their own in the top of the third to make it 5-2 and then used three two-run home runs in the fourth to put the game away. 

With the Pioneers trailing 15-2 entering the bottom of the fifth, Brackin and Lewis & Clark got two runs back. Anderson worked a one-out walk and Brackin crushed a home run to right-center to snap the 11-0 Linfield run.  

KEY MOMENTS GAME ONE: #12 LINFIELD 5-4

Game four of the series proved to be the tightest and best played game of the four, as the Pioneers put a scare in the nationally-ranked Wildcats. 

Linfield took a 5-1 lead in the top of the third inning but the Pioneers scored the final three runs of the game and left seven runners on base. 

Alvarez finished 3-4 with a run scored, an RBI and her third home run of her sophomore season. 

Kaui finished 2-4 with a run scored and Moffitt chipped in a double and two RBI. Brackin registed a triple, a walk and a pair of run scored.

In the circle, Alyssa Abe bounced back from a slow start to go seven innings allowing just eight hits and five earned runs against a potent Linfield offense. 

With two outs and two on in the top of the first, Brynn Nelson gave the visitors a 3-0 lead with a home run just over the left field fence. 

Abe helped herself in the bottom of the second. With Kaui on second base and one down, Abe roped a ball into right field to plate Kaui. 

Linfield sophomore Kamryn Mobley pushed the lead to 5-1 two batters into top of the third, when the third baseman hit a two-run home run. 

Abe would be lights out from there, as she retired nine of the next 10 batters and did not give up a run over the final 15 outs. 

The Pioneers immediately cut the deficit back to two. Alvarez led off the inning with a solo home run to left field. Brackin walked with one out and Kaui followed with single. Moffitt ripped a double to left field to plate Brackin and make it 5-3. 

At that point, Linfield handed the ball back to their ace pitcher for the final four innings. 

In the fifth inning, Brackin tripled off the wall in right field and raced home on an RBI groundout from Moffitt. 

Alvarez singled to lead off the seventh inning, but Kelley retired the next three batters on popups to deny the Pioneers the comeback. 

DEEPER LOOK 

• A week after recording two hits in a five-inning shutout loss against Kelley, Lewis & Clark scored three earned runs on eight hits against the All-Region pitcher. Kelley came into the day with a microscopic 0.80 ERA and left the Huston Sports Complex with a 0.94 ERA. Kaui's home run was just the third home run allowed by Kelley in 104 innings. 
• Brackin's triple in game two was the first triple by a Pioneer this season. The three-bagger was also the first career triple for Brackin in 106 collegiate games. 
• Alvarez has now hit safely in six-straight games (10-18) and has homered in two of her past three contests. 

LOOKING AHEAD 

The Pioneers will travel to second-place George Fox University for a four-game conference set on Saturday (Noon/2pm) and Sunday (11 am/1pm).