SPOKANE, Wash.—Sophomore Maggie O'Leary threw her first collegiate, complete-game shutout in game one and softball racked up 14 hits in game two to earn a Sunday sweep and their third-straight Northwest Conference Series win to begin the season. 
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 3, Whitworth 0
Lewis & Clark 8, Whitworth 5
(Lewis & Clark 16-8, NWC 10-2) 
(Whitworth 7-17, NWC 3-9) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
O'Leary limited the hosts to just five hits in game one and then pitched a scoreless seventh in the nightcap, to finish the weekend 1-1 with a pair of saves. The sophomore allowed just five hits over eight innings and struck out four to lower her ERA to 1.68 on the season. 
 
Sam Gildersleeve provided the big hit in game one with a two-run homer to break a 0-0 tie and finished the day 4-6 with three runs and three RBI.
 
GAME ONE RECAP 
 
After getting hit hard in game one of the series, O'Leary absolutely shut down Whitworth's offense in her first collegiate shutout. 
 
The sophomore scattered three singles, one double and one triple over seven innings and struck out three to move to 7-4 on the season. 
 
Lewis & Clark made the most of their four hits in the contest. Gildersleeve went a perfect 3-3 with a run scored and two RBI. Freshman Harper Campanella added a base hit to extend her hitting streak (13 games after Game 2) and senior Mari Alvarez worked the Pioneers lone walk. 
 
Whitworth ace Corinne Vasiloff was the tough-luck loser. The senior gave up four hits, three runs (one earned) and one walk over seven innings. Vasiloff managed to strike out just one Pioneer hitter. 
 
Sunday's opener started as a pitcher's duel with the two sides combining for just three hits and only one runner reaching second base (Whitworth) in the first three innings. 
 
Lewis & Clark came through with their big rally in the fourth. Madison Scroggins reached on an error by Vasiloff and Gildersleeve made the hosts pay with her 31^st collegiate home run – a shot to center field. Campanella followed with a single to left field and Alvarez walked to put two runners on still with no outs. Sophomore Lola Jarrette came on to pinch run for Campanella and took third on a passed ball and raced home on Emily Patton's RBI ground out. Vasiloff kept the deficit to 3-0 with a pop up to short and a ground out to third. 
Whitworth had their best chance to score in the bottom of the inning. Julia Dillon led off the inning with a triple but the Pirates couldn't scratch across a run. O'Leary induced a grounder to second and then Patton threw Dillon out trying to score on a grounder to short. With a runner on first and two outs, O'Leary forced a fly out to right to end the inning. 
 
The hosts put a runner on in the fifth with one out but McKenna Zehnder turned an inning-ending double play on a lineout to third. Whitworth recorded a double with one out in the sixth but O'Leary found her stride with a ground out and a fly out to end the frame. 
 
GAME TWO RECAP 
 
Lewis & Clark scored in each of the first five innings and Charlize Pope and O'Leary combined for 5.2 innings of strong relief to help the Pioneers secure the series victory. 
 
Five Pioneers finished with multiple hits and three added multiple RBI as Lewis & Clark recorded their second-most hits of the season with 14. 
 
Sophomore Gina Ozuna went 3-3 with three runs scored, two RBI, a walk, a double and a homer out of the leadoff spot. Alvarez and Patton each finished with two hits and two RBI and sophomores Kate Ingersoll and Scroggins tacked on two hits and a run scored. Gildersleeve chipped in a hit, two run scored and an RBI to cap off a very strong weekend. 
 
Pope came on in the bottom of the second inning with the Pioneers nursing a 4-3 lead. She got the final two outs of the second and finished her day with 4.2 innings pitched. Pope allowed three hits and two earned runs, while striking out three, to earn her seventh win of the year. O'Leary allowed a single and struck out one to earn her third save of the year. 
 
Lewis & Clark jumped all over Whitworth starter Reiss McIntyre. Ozuna led off the game with a double and raced to third on a Scroggins single to right. Campanella made it 1-0 with an RBI single to right field. With two outs and two runners in scoring position, Patton ripped a single up the middle to plate Scroggins and Campanella to make it 3-0. 
 
Lewis & Clark made it 4-0 when Ozuna blasted a homer to dead center field with two outs in the top of the second. 
 
After leaving two runners on in the bottom of the first inning, Tallulah Sickels ran into trouble in the second. Each of the first three Pirates batters reached to make it 4-1 and Haley Montoya added a two-run single with one out to make 4-3. Pope came on from there and struck out the first batter she faced and induced a pop up to short to end the rally. 
 
The Pioneers immediately replied in the third. Gildersleeve was hit by a pitch to start the frame and stole second. Alvarez made it 5-3 with a one-out RBI single to center.
 
Lewis & Clark added three key insurance runs in the fourth and fifth. In the fourth, Ozuna (walk) and Scroggins (single) each reached with one out and Gildersleeve singled to right-center to score Ozuna. Alvarez added a two-out RBI single to plate Gildersleeve and make it 7-3.
 
The Pioneers capped off their scoring in the fifth. With two down, Ingersoll singled to left-center, stole second and easily scored on Ozuna's double to left field. 
 
Whitworth cut the deficit to 8-5 in the bottom of the sixth but Pope snuffed out the rally from there. With a runner on first and one out, she posted a ground out and a strikeout to close the frame. 
 
O'Leary allowed a leadoff single in the seventh before retiring the next three batters to end the game. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Lewis & Clark came into the weekend 13-50 against Whitworth dating back to 2007. The Pioneers earned their third series win against the Pirates in that span joining the 2007 season (4-0 in Spokane) and 2020 season (3-1 in Portland). 
• O'Leary (four saves) is now just one save shy of the career program record. Her former teammate Alyssa Abe ('23) posted five saves over four seasons. She also tied the program record for saves in a single-season (three) with Megan Anderson ('18) and Liz Coburn ('01). 
• Gildersleeve is now within one hit of 100 for her career. The senior went 8-12 with eight runs, three RBI, a homer and a stolen base over the weekend. 
• Ingersoll went 2-4 in Sunday's game two and she has hit safely in seven of the eight NWC games she's appeared in. Ingersoll is hitting .550 (11-20) in conference play with one double, one triple and five RBI. 
• Lewis & Clark is 10-2 to open NWC play. The Pioneers are one win away from matching their final total from the past two seasons (11-17) and three wins away from tying the program record for conference wins in a single season (13-11 in 2021). Lewis & Clark went 8-0 during the 1977 and 1978 seasons before softball was added as a conference spot. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will return home to kick off an eight-game homestand. The Pioneers will host Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday and Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for Noon on Saturday.