NEWBERG, Ore.—Junior pitcher Alyssa Abe struck out a career-high 10 batters and hit a two-run home run, to lead Lewis & Clark College softball to a doubleheader split with host George Fox University on Saturday. 

Abe threw a complete game in game two to help the Pioneers snap a five-game losing streak and earn an important Northwest Conference victory.  

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KEY MOMENTS GAME ONE: GEORGE FOX 6-0  

George Fox senior Ashley Davis limited the Pioneers to just three singles and the Bruins scratched across a run in five of their six at-bats to earn a 6-0 win. 

Sophomore Cassidy Crusberg was the tough-luck loser in the contest. She allowed just seven hits, two walks and three earned runs in the complete-game loss. Crusberg struck out a season-high four batters in the contest. 

Alyssa Hoeke, Mari Alvarez and Kami Merrill all recorded a hit for the Pioneers in the loss. 

George Fox scored a single run in the first, third and fourth, and blew the game open with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. 

Lewis & Clark had their best chance to score in the top of the first inning. Hoeke led off with a single and Alvarez put runners at first and second base with a one-out single. With two on and one out, Davis struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam.  

KEY MOMENTS GAME TWO: LEWIS & CLARK 5-4  

Abe gave the Pioneers the lead in the top of the second and the combination of her pitching and the Lewis & Clark offense and defense proved just enough to earn the split with the Bruins. 

The second game was a back-and-forth affair that saw Lewis & Clark lead by two runs three times, only for George Fox to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

Abe earned her ninth win of the year in the contest. She went seven innings and allowed six hits, four runs and two walks, while striking out 10 batters. 

Offensively, seniors Braylin Jenson and Lily Moffitt led the Pioneers with two hits apiece. Jenson hit her first home run of the season and Moffitt added the game-winning sacrifice fly. 

Lewis & Clark grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Riley Anderson led off the inning with a hit by pitch, but was wiped out on a fielder's choice. With Kalea Kaui standing on first base, Abe blasted a home run over the right-field fence for a 2-0 lead. 

After a solo home run by George Fox in the bottom of the inning cut the lead to 2-1, Anderson extended the lead back to two in the third. Moffitt opened the inning with a double and moved to third when Olivia Brackin's bunt single loaded the bases. Anderson drove in Moffitt with a sac fly to center, but that would be all the runs the Pioneers would get. 

The Bruins hit their second of three home runs in the bottom of the third to make it 3-2. 

Jenson answered back in the fourth, when she cracked a line drive over the right-center field fence for her third collegiate home run. 

Sharon Tomei tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth, when she hit a two-run, two-out home run just over the right-field fence. 

The Pioneers took the lead for good in the sixth inning. Samantha Gildersleeve worked a leadoff walk and Merrill came on to pinch run for her. Merrill took off on a pitch in the dirt and just barely beat the throw to second. She took third base on a Jenson grounder and raced home on a Moffitt fly ball to shallow left field, when the left fielder was forced to make a late diving catch. 

George Fox put a runner on in each of their final two at-bats but couldn't strike for the tying run. In the seventh, Sydney Sandifer hit a long fly ball to right field with two outs, but Jenson camped under it on the warning track and made the play for the final out. 

DEEPER LOOK 

• Abe is the first Pioneers pitcher to strike out 10 or more batters since Kaili Akimseu struck out 11 George Fox batters in six innings on April 15, 2017. 
• The Pioneers snapped a three-game losing streak against the Bruins with their game-two win. Last season, Lewis & Clark won one of four games against George Fox at the Huston Sports Complex. 
• Abe has now hit a home run in three of her last eight starts. The Pioneers are 2-0 this season when she hits a home run in conference play. 
• Gildersleeve made her first start since game one of March 24 against Whittier (10 games). She had appeared in just three games in between the two starts. 
• Lewis & Clark is now 5-1 in conference play when they hit multiple home runs.  

LOOKING AHEAD 

The Pioneers will head right back to Newberg on Sunday to play the second-place Bruins for an NWC doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.