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Box Score 2 PORTLAND, Ore.—Behind an impressive game one outing from sophomore Cassidy Crusberg, Lewis & Clark softball took game one and nearly earned a comeback win in game two on Sunday against Whitworth University.
Crusberg allowed just five hits, one walk and one earned run over six innings, to collect her second win of the season.
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KEY MOMENTS GAME ONE: LEWIS & CLARK 6-3
A day after failing to get out of the first inning, Crusberg held the Pirates to their fewest runs scored in almost a month (15 games).
The sophomore righty held the Whitworth batters off balance all game long and added two hits and an RBI in two at-bats.
Junior ace Alyssa Abe came on for the seventh inning and retired Whitworth in order to pick up her second save of the season.
Offensively, sophomore Samantha Gildersleeve hit a pair of solo home runs to lead the Pioneers.
Alyssa Hoeke added two hits and two runs scored, Mari Alvarez chipped in a pair of hits and an RBI and Olivia Brackin tacked on two hits of her own.
Whitworth took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Pioneers would answer back with five unanswered runs.
Lewis & Clark tied the game in the second. Brackin and Riley Anderson started off the inning with back-to-back singles and Crusberg came through with an RBI single to center to plate Anderson with one out.
The Pioneers took the lead in the third. Hoeke worked a leadoff walk, took second on a Lily Moffitt sac bunt and raced to third on Alvarez's single. With two outs, Hoeke raced home on a wild pitch.
Lewis & Clark scored for a third-straight inning in the fourth. Gildersleeve led off with a home run to dead center that bounced off the top of the Pirates' centerfielder's glove and over the fence. The Pioneers proceeded to load the bases on a hit by pitch and a pair of singles from Katie Ingersoll and Hoeke. With the bases loaded, Braylin Jenson took off on a pitch that skipped by the catcher and barely beat the tag at home plate to make it 4-1.
Gildersleeve added a fifth run in the fifth, when she crushed a no-doubter over the center-field fence for her seventh home run of the season.
The Pirates scored twice in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Lewis & Clark immediately responded. Hoeke beat out an infield single, took second on a Moffitt sac bunt and easily scored on an Alvarez line-drive RBI single into the left-center field gap.
KEY MOMENTS GAME ONE: WHITWORTH 7-6
Game four of the series was a near repeat of Saturday's second game, with Whitworth jumping out to a 5-0 lead this time and barely hanging on for a 7-6 victory.
Brackin was the offensive hero for the Pioneers. The senior hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 5-4 and ripped a two-run double in the seventh to cut the deficit to 7-6. She finished the game 2-4 with a run scored and five RBI.
Moffitt chipped in two hits, a run scored and an RBI and Alvarez registered two hits and a run scored. Ingersoll finished 1-2 with two runs and a a walk out of the nine-hole.
The Pioneers used all three of their pitchers in the contest. Crusberg went the first three innings and scattered seven hits, one walk and four runs. Kylie Hill came on for the middle three innings and limited Whitworth to one run on one hit and four walks. Abe pitched the seventh and allowed two runs on two hits.
Whitworth's Momi Lyman went the first 6.2 innings to improve to 11-2. She silenced the Pioneers bats for the first four innings, before Lewis & Clark came alive in the final three frames.
Delayne Waite did the majority of the damage offensively for Whitworth. The left fielder hit two-run and three-run homers and added a sac fly for a six RBI game.
With the Pioneers trailing 5-0 after 4.5, Lewis & Clark's bats awoke in the fifth. With one out, Ingersoll singled and stole second. She advanced to third on a groundout and raced home on Moffitt's RBI single. Alvarez ripped a liner into right that was nearly caught, but the umpires ruled the ball was trapped, putting runners at the corners with two outs. Brackin made Whitworth pay when she blasted a three-run home run over the left-field fence.
Waite added a two-run home run with two outs in the top of the seventh to give Whitworth a 7-4 cushion going into the final half-inning.
Ingersoll started another Pioneers rally by working a leadoff walk. Hoeke followed with a single over the third baseman's head and Alvarez singled off the top of the second baseman's glove to load the bases. Brackin ripped a double down the field line that scored the first two runners, but Whitworth threw behind the third runner to get the all-important second out at third base. Gildersleeve was hit by a pitch to put two on with two outs, but Whitworth ace Corinne Vasiloff came on and induced a pop up to short to earn a series-split.
DEEPER LOOK
- Crusberg tied her second-most innings pitched a in single-game with six in game one. Her one earned run against was also the second fewest she's allowed this season.
- Brackin's game two home run was her 25th career home run. Her five RBI are a new season-high and the second-most of her career. She posted seven RBI in a win over Pacific Lutheran in 2021.
- Gildersleeve's two-homer game in game one was the first of her season and second of her career. The sophomore has now hit 22 home runs in 61 collegiate games.
- With the doubleheader split, Lewis & Clark has now split three Northwest Conference series this season. The Pioneers have split against two of the four teams (Pacific Lutheran and Whitworth) who are currently set to participate in the four-team NWC Tournament.
DEEPER LOOK
The Pioneers will close out the regular-season with a home-and-home doubleheader against Willamette University. The Bearcats will host a doubleheader on Friday (2:30 and 4:30 p.m.), before Lewis & Clark will host Willamette on Senior Day (Noon and 2 p.m.) in their final two games of the season.
