PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College softball finished one out away from throwing a no-hitter in game one and outscored visiting Warner Pacific University 17-2 over 12 innings in a doubleheader sweep at the Huston Sports Complex. 
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 7, Warner Pacific 0
Lewis & Clark 10, Warner Pacific 2 (5 Innings) 
(Lewis & Clark 14-8)
(Warner Pacific 1-21) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Freshman Maggie O'Leary and junior Cassidy Crusberg limited the Knights to two total hits in game one, with both hits coming with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. 
 
Offensively, sophomore Riley Anderson and junior Mari Alvarez led the way. Anderson went 6-8 with two runs, six RBI and a pair of extra-base hits. Alvarez finished the day 3-5 with three runs scored, four RBI and a home run. 
 
GAME ONE RECAP 
 
O'Leary and Crusberg kept the Knights bats quiet the entire way and the Pioneers used a four-run third inning to effectively put the game away.
 
O'Leary started the contest and went four innings to earn the win. She issued a pair of walks and struck out five in the best start of her collegiate career. Crusberg came on in relief in the fifth and allowed one walk and two hits over three scoreless innings to earn her first save of the season. 
 
Anderson was the offensive catalyst. She ended the game 4-4 with two runs, five RBI and a home run. 
 
Junior Alyssa Hoeke went a perfect 3-3 out of the nine-hole and freshman Megan Yanagi added two hits in three at-bats and an RBI. 
 
The Pios took the lead in the first. Freshman Lainey Honma led off the frame with a single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and came into score on an Anderson two-out, infield single that snuck it's way underneath the pitcher's glove. 
 
After a scoreless second, the Pioneers scored four runs in the third to blow the game open. Freshman Emily Patton led off the inning with a walk and Alvarez followed with a line drive single. Anderson made it 4-0 when she crushed a home run well over the left-center field fence. The Pios tacked on a fourth run later in the inning. Freshman Lacey Marglin reached on an error, stole second and raced home on a Yanagi RBI single. 
 
The Pios added single runs in the fourth and sixth. In the fourth, Anderson roped a single up the middle to score Patton to make it 6-0. Warner Pacific reliever Jovita Laloulu settled down from there to keep the Pioneers from reaching the eight-run lead needed for a mercy-rule victory. 
 
In the sixth, Marglin drove in Anderson with a one-out RBI single to the shortstop. 
 
After the Pioneers pitchers and defense were cruising through the first six innings, the defense needed to work a bit harder in the seventh. Hoeke, who was playing right field, tracked down a line drive for the first out of the inning and then made a diving full-extension grab in shallow right to preserve the no-no for the second out. The next hitter, Marin Bliss, sent a grounder through the right side and Hoeke tried to scoop the ball up in right field and throw it to first to get Bliss but the ball bounced out of her glove for a base hit. Emma Foster followed with a single off the wall in center but Crusberg preserved the shutout with a fly out to right. 
 
GAME TWO RECAP 
 
Alvarez and senior Alyssa Abe crushed a pair of home runs in a five-run fourth inning and the Pioneers scored 10 runs across their final three at-bats to earn the mercy-rule victory. 
 
Alvarez finished the contest 2-3 with two runs, four RBI and a home run. Honma (two runs) and Anderson (one RBI) each added two hits and Patton finished 1-2 with two runs scored and two walks. 
 
In the circle, Abe improved to 4-0 by throwing all five innings. She scattered six hits and two earned runs and added one strikeout. 
 
The Pioneers opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning. Sophomore Katie Ingersoll started the inning with a bunt single, took second on a passed ball and third on a Honma sac bunt. After a Patton walk put runners on the corners, Alvarez put down a squeeze bunt and Ingersoll beat the throw home from the pitcher. The throw got past the catcher allowing Patton and Alvarez to advance an extra-base. That error would prove costly, as junior Sam Gildersleeve came through with a rocket single through the middle with two outs that scored Patton and pinch runner Lola Jarrette. 
 
Warner Pacific answered with their only two runs of the day in the top of the fourth. With one out and a runner on first, E. Foster hit a homer over the center field fence to cut the deficit to 3-2. The Knights put runners on the corners with two outs but Abe induced a pop up to end the rally. 
 
Lewis & Clark immediately responded in the bottom of the inning. Senior Kalea Kaui led off the inning with a single and Abe followed with her first home run of the season on a fly ball to dead center. With one out, Honma singlde and Patton added a single of her own. Alvarez stepped to the plate and crushed a three-run homer to right-center to make it 8-3. 
 
Warner Pacific threatened to cut the deficit in the top of the fifth. They put runners at the corners with no outs but Abe retired the next batter on a fly out to right and then on a pop up to second Alvarez threw back to first base to get the runner for an inning-ending double play. 
 
Five batters later the game was over. With one out, Honma singled to right and raced to third after a misplay by the Knights right fielder. Patton walked to put the mercy-rule run on base and Alvarez followed with a fielder's choice that erased Patton but plated Honma. Anderson ended the game with a double over the center-fielder's head that scored Alvarez all the way from first base. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Lewis & Clark improved to 6-0 this season at the Huston Sports Complex and 8-2 in home games. 
• With the sweep, Lewis & Clark is riding a seven-game winning streak. It's the program's longest winning streak since at least 2007. Over the past 16 seasons (2008-23), the Pios have won five in a row six times, but have never won a sixth-consecutive game.
• With her 33 RBI this season, Anderson is now third all-time in program history for RBI in a single-season. She is 10 runs batted in shy of tying Hannah Dal Pra (2013) for the program record. 
• The Pios pitching staff posted their fifth shutout of the season in game. The program record for shutouts in a single-season is six. 
• Sophomore Caeleigh Rosenbach made her sophomore season debut in game one and Rosenbach and freshman Cami Restagno each earned their first at-bats of the season in game one. 
• The Pios improved to 3-3 against Warner Pacific since 2020. The Knights swept the Pioneers in 2020, but Lewis & Clark has taken three of the past four. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
The Pios will continue their eight-game homestand on Thursday, when they host conference foe Pacific University at Noon and 2 p.m. Lewis & Clark swept the Boxers (4-0, 9-1) on March 14.