PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College softball scored 5 runs in the opening two innings to earn a game one victory and fell just short of a doubleheader sweep in game two in their first-ever meeting with SUNY Oneonta. 
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 8, SUNY Oneonta 3
SUNY Oneonta 5, Lewis & Clark 4
(Lewis & Clark 9-5) 
(SUNY Oneonta 1-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Seniors Sam Gildersleeve hit an inside-the-park home run and the combination of Maggie O'Leary and Ryan Jurischk combined to allow no earned runs over seven innings in the game one victory. 
 
Jurischk earned her first collegiate victory by pitching the final four innings in relief. Offensively, Mari Alvarez and Gildersleeve each hit home runs and tied for the team lead with three hits apiece on the afternoon. 
 
GAME ONE RECAP 
 
The Pioneers scored multiple runs in three innings and O'Leary and Jurischk limited the Red Dragons to just four hits, to help Lewis & Clark extend their winning streak to five in a row. 
 
In the circle, O'Leary went three innings and allowed one hit, two walks and one unearned run. The NWC Pitcher of the Week also struck out three batters. Jurischk came on for the final four innings and scattered three hits, two unearned runs and one walk. The freshman struck out one in her longest collegiate appearance thus far. 
 
Gildersleeve led the Pioneers offensively with two hits, a run scored and four RBI. Sophomore Lola Jarrette made the most of her first collegiate start. She finished 2-2 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk. Senior Alyssa Hoeke went 1-2 with a run scored, an RBI and a pair of walks. 
 
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first inning, Lewis & Clark would respond three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Hoeke walked and freshman Harper Campanella followed with a single through the left side. Gildersleeve made it 3-0 when she lifted a fly ball down the right field line that bounced right in front of the diving right fielder and skipped all the way into the right-field corner. Gildersleeve took off from there and easily beat the throw home for an inside-the-park home run. 
 
The Pioneers added two more runs in the second inning. McKenna Zehnder led off the frame with a single and moved to second on a sac bunt. Each of the next three batters walked, with Hoeke working a bases-loaded free pass to make it 4-1. After a pitching change and a strikeout, Gildersleeve worked a bases-loaded walk of her own for a 5-1 advantage. 
 
The Red Dragons added another run in the top of the fifth inning, only to see Lewis & Clark respond with three more runs in the bottom of the frame. 
 
Sophomore Lacey Marglin led off the inning with a bunt single and moved to second base on freshman Sofia Garcia's first collegiate hit. Sophomore pinch hitter Megan Yanagi drove in Marglin with an RBI double to left field to push the lead to 6-2. Jarrette extended the advantage to 7-2 when she put down a bunt single that scored Garcia from third base. Yanagi raced home from third on a wild pitch to make it 8-2. 
 
SUNY Oneonta scored a run on a two-out double in the top of the sixth but Jurischk retired four of the final five batters she faced, to seal her first collegiate victory. 
 
GAME TWO RECAP 
 
SUNY Oneonta raced out to a 4-0 lead and held off a late Lewis & Clark charge to earn their first victory of the season. 
 
Alvarez (home run) and freshman Makena Dahir (triple) each registered two-run hits to pace the Pioneers offense. Alvarez finished the contest 2-4 with a run scored and two RBI. Sophomores Gina Ozuna and Madison Scroggins each posted a hit, a run scored and a walk in the contest. 
 
Sophomore Charlize Pope started in the circle and struck out five batters in three innings. She was charged with the loss after scattering six hits and four earned runs. Sophomore Tallulah Sickels came on for the middle innings and allowed three hits and one run over 2.2 innings. O'Leary finished off the contest and gave up one hit and one walk in 1.1 scoreless innings. 
 
The visitors took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. SUNY Oneonta put runners at second and third base with no outs thanks to a walk, a wild pitch and a bunt single. Julia Serena drove in the first runner with a sac fly and Victoria Hussey pushed a second run across with an RBI double. With a runner on third and two down, Ella Stewart singled to shallow center to make it 3-0. 
 
SUNY Oneonta threatened to score again in the second but Lewis & Clark extinguished the rally with an inning-ending double play. With a runner at first and one out, Mari Alvarez caught a foul pop up behind the plate and fired a throw to Ozuna at first base to double off the runner. 
 
With the Pioneers traveling 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Lewis & Clark began their comeback. Ozuna led off the inning with a double to left-center field and she was able to trot home two batters later, when Alvarez crushed a home run well over the left-field fence. Each of the next two batters reached, but freshman pitcher Emily Brown retired the next two batters to end the rally. 
 
SUNY Oneonta made it 5-2 in the top of the sixth inning thanks to an Adriana Fiori RBI single. 
 
Lewis & Clark started off the bottom of the inning with each of the first two batters reaching. Scroggins worked a walk and Alvarez followed with a sharp single through the left side. After a sac bunt moved both runners up, Dahir laced a line drive just over the right fielder's head to easily score Scroggins and pinch runner Pippi Jepsen and Dahir raced all the way to third base. With the tying run at third base, reliever Angelina Scalere induced a fly ball to left to end the frame. 
 
The Pioneers had one final rally in the seventh. Campanella pinch hit to start the inning and singled through the left side. She moved to second on a Katie Ingersoll sac bunt and to third on an Ozuna groundout. Scroggins was hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners with two outs but Cadence Brennan came on and forced a pop up to second to seal the win. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Tuesday's game one saw a series of firsts: Jarrette made her first collegiate start, Marglin made her first collegiate start at shortstop and Garcia recorded her first collegiate hit. 
• In two appearances this season, Jurischk is 1-0 with six hits, two walks and no runs allowed in 6.2 innings pitched. 
• Gildersleeve became the seventh player in program history to reach 70 career RBI on Tuesday. She sits just five RBI behind Emily Drevdahl ('19) for fifth in program history. 
• O'Leary moved into the top-15 in career strikeouts (87) on Tuesday. She is already up to 40 strikeouts this season, after posting 47 as a freshman. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will close out non-conference play on Saturday, when they host Pomona-Pitzer in the final two games of their eight-game homestand. First pitch is scheduled to start at Noon.