MCMINVILLE, Ore.—Freshman Makena Dahir blasted the second pitch she saw over the left field fence for a walk-off home run to lift #2 Lewis & Clark College softball past #3 Pacific Lutheran University 8-7. With the win, the Pioneers booked a trip to their first-ever Northwest Conference Tournament Championship Series. 
 
THE BASICS
#2 Lewis & Clark 8, #3 Pacific Lutheran 7
(Lewis & Clark 28-15) 
(Pacific Lutheran 24-19) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Dahir's second collegiate home run gave Lewis & Clark College their first lead of the contest after falling behind 5-0 and 7-5. The homer extended a streak of scoring in five-straight innings for the Pioneers as they exploded for eight runs on 13 hits in their third game of the weekend. 
 
#2 Lewis & Clark will take on #1 Linfield on Sunday at Noon in the first game of the NWC Championship Series. The Pioneers will need to win game one, to force a winner-take-all game at 2:30 p.m. Earlier on Saturday, the number one team in the nation slipped past second-seeded Lewis & Clark 1-0 in the winner's bracket. 
 
Emily Patton, Gina Ozuna, Mari Alvarez and Dahir all finished with multiple hits in the win. Patton went 3-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Alvarez added two hits and two RBI and Ozuna and Dahir chipped in two hits, a run scored and an RBI.
 
Freshman Harper Campanella added a solo home run and two RBI and Katie Ingersoll had a hit and two runs scored. 
 
Sophomore Maggie O'Leary earned her second playoff win in as many days. She came on in relief in the bottom of the second inning with the Pioneers trailing 5-0. O'Leary allowed six hits and two runs and struck out two over 5.1 innings. Sophomore Charlize Pope made her second start of the day and allowed four hits, one walk and five runs over 1.2 innings. 
 
Fresh off a 2-0 win in an elimination game over #4 Willamette, Pacific Lutheran jumped out to a 5-0 start after 1.5 innings. The Lutes used a walk and an RBI triple to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and made it 2-0 when the runner from third barely slid in ahead of Sam Gildersleeve's throw on a sacrifice fly. 
 
In the second, the Lutes came through with three two-out runs. Kassidi Dean delivered an RBI single and the team's top hitter, Casey Wright, followed with a two-run homer to left field. 
 
After leaving two runners on in the first two innings, Lewis & Clark began their comeback with three runs in the third inning. Ingersoll started the rally with a single just inside the left-field line and stole second. With one down, Patton slapped a single through the middle to score Ingersoll and put the Pioneers on the board. Alvarez followed with her first hit of the tournament and Gildersleeve looped a double down the right-field line to score Patton. The Lutes made a pitching change but Campanella greeted the reliever with a sacrifice fly to right to score pinch-runner Lola Jarrette.
 
The Pioneers tied the game for the first time in the fourth. Dahir posted her first hit of the tournament with a single to right-center. She moved up to second on a fielder's choice when the Lutes tried to throw her out on a McKenna Zehnder bunt. With one down and two runners on, Ozuna singled to left field to score Zehnder from second. Alvarez came through with a huge two-out RBI single to right to plate Ingersoll and make it 5-5. 
 
Pacific Lutheran retook the lead in the top of the fifth. The visitors started their run with two outs once again. Paolo Garcia singled and Emma Ware followed with an RBI double to the wall in center to make it 6-5. Zoe Smithson added an RBI single with a line-drive single that knocked off O'Leary's glove in the circle. 
 
With the Pioneers down to their final nine outs, Campanella immediately showed the Pioneers wouldn't be backing down. The freshman took the first pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning and drove it well over the center field fence for a solo homer to make it 6-5. 
 
Lewis & Clark knotted the game at 6-6 in the sixth. Ozuna opened the frame with a single through the left side and raced all the way to third on a Patton single to left-center. Alvarez tied the game up for a second time with a sac fly to right field. 
 
After O'Leary sat the Lutes down in order in the top of the seventh, Lewis & Clark needed just three pitches to walk it off. With one out, Dahir fouled off the first pitch she saw, before blasting a line drive to left field that traveled well over the fence. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Saturday's win was the Pioneers first win this season when trailing after five innings. Lewis & Clark came into the game 0-13 this season when trailing after five frames. 
• Lewis & Clark wraps up the season series with Pacific Lutheran 5-1. The Pioneers had been 20-110 against PLU all-time coming into this season. 
• With her second win of the weekend, O'Leary moved into a tie for second place in program history for wins in a single-season. The Pioneers sophomore and Liz Coburn (in 2001) each posted 14 victories. The program record for wins in a single-season is 16 by Trissa Chamberlin (1989). 
• The Pioneers earned just their third win in 10 games this season in one-run contests. Two of their three one-run wins have come against PLU and both came by way of walk-off hits (Sam Gildersleeve double on April 13. 
• Lewis & Clark set the program record for doubles in a single-season on Friday night (four doubles) against Pacific Lutheran. The Pioneers 67 doubles eclipsed the 2016 team who finished with 64. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
#2 Lewis & Clark College will look to earn their first win over #1 Linfield this season when they return to Del Smith Stadium on Sunday at Noon. The Pioneers need to defeat the Wildcats at Noon to force a winner-take-all game at 2:30 p.m.