CLERMONT, Fla.—Softball opened their Spring Break trip in Florida with a pair of of non-conference wins in very different fashions, to improve to 14-0 on the season. 
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 7, Colby College 5
Lewis & Clark 13, Hamline University 1 (6 Innings) 
(Lewis & Clark 14-0) 
(Colby 3-2) 
(Hamline 9-7) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Junior starting pitchers Charlize Pope and Maggie O'Leary limited the Pioneers opponents to five hits in 12 innings pitched, to help lead Lewis & Clark to a 2-0 start to their Florida trip. O'Leary allowed three runs over six innings in game one to tie the program record with her 28^th career win. Pope limited Hamline to just two hits and one run in game two. 
 
Junior Lacey Marglin came off the bench in both games to go 3-3 with a run scored and four RBI. Senior Sam Gildersleeve added three hits, four runs and two RBI. 
 
COLBY RECAP 
 
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, Lewis & Clark scored seven of the next eight runs, to earn their first-ever win over the Mules. 
 
The Pioneers made the most of their four hits in the contest. Junior Gina Ozuna went 1-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Gildersleeve added a triple and two runs scored and graduate student Mari Alvarez posted a pair of RBI to go over 100 for her career. 
 
O'Leary tied the program record for wins by limiting the Mules to three hits, three walks and three runs over six innings. She struck out three to move to 10-0 on the year. 
 
Colby jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to a walk, a triple and a sacrifice fly. 
 
The Pioneers responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Lewis & Clark loaded the bases with one out on a Ozuna hit by pitch, Makena Dahir single and Gildersleeve walk. Alvarez and Emily Patton worked back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to tie the game. Junior McKenna Zehnder gave the Pioneers the lead with an RBI groundout. The Pioneers had a chance to score more runs but Madison Scroggins' hard-hit grounder up the middle hit Patton for the third out of the frame. 
 
Colby tied the game in the top of the third with their second RBI triple of the game. They threatened to take the lead in the fourth. With a runner on second and one out, O'Leary struck out two of the next three batters to keep the game at 3-3. 
 
Lewis & Clark grabbed the lead back in the fifth. With one out, Gildersleeve tripled and she scampered home on an Alvarez RBI groundout. 
 
The Pioneers added three key insurance runs in the sixth. Zehnder led off with a hit by pitch and Marglin followed with an infield single. After a Madison Scroggins sac bunt, pinch runner Pippi Jepsen and Marglin both scored on an Ozuna ground ball to the first baseman, that the first baseman booted. Ozuna stole second and came in to score on a second error by the first baseman. 
 
Sophomore Ryan Jurischk came on for the seventh inning. The Mules managed to score two unearned runs on a two-out double, but Jurischk retired the next batter on a fly out to left to end the game. 
 
HAMLINE RECAP 
 
Lewis & Clark posted four multi-run innings and Pope limited the Pipers to just two singles in the team's biggest win of the year. 
 
Pope continued her recent surge to move to 4-0. She scattered two hits, three walks and one run across six innings. Pope added a pair of strikeouts. 
 
Six Pioneers finished with multiple hits as Lewis & Clark racked up 17 hits in game two. 
 
Patton finished 3-4 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI. Marglin went 2-2 with a pair of two-run doubles off the bench. Gildersleeve tacked on a double, a home run, three runs scored and two RBI. Alvarez and sophomore Harper Campanella each chipped in two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Zehnder was the final player with multiple hits as she registered two hits and two RBI.
 
Lewis & Clark jumped all over the Pipers from the start. Ozuna reached on a leadoff error and stole second with one out. Alvarez made it 1-0 with an RBI single but she was erased on a Gildersleeve fielder's choice. Gildersleeve stole second and raced home on a Campanella RBI single. 
 
The Pioneers made it 5-0 in the third. Alvarez started the rally with a one-out single and Gildersleeve crushed a home run over the left-field fence to make it 4-0. Campanella and Patton followed with singles and moved up to second and third on a Cami Restagno ground out. Zehnder made it 5-0 on an RBI single to center. Hamline threw out Patton trying to score from second to keep the deficit at five. 
 
Hamline scored their only run in the third. They used a leadoff infield single, a stolen base, a groundout and a two-out RBI single to get on the board. 
 
Lewis & Clark put the game away with eight runs in their final two at-bats. 
 
In the fifth inning, Patton led off with a bunt single and raced to third when Hamline threw the ball away on a Restagno sac bunt. Zehnder plated Patton with an RBI groundout. With two down, Marglin blasted a two-run double to right center to score Jepsen and Scroggins. 
 
Lewis & Clark tacked on five runs in the sixth. Gildersleeve led off the frame with a double and scored on a Patton RBI single. With two on and two down, Scroggins drove a single into left field to score Patton. Ozuna followed with an RBI single to score Restagno and Marglin delivered her second, two-run double of the contest to make it 13-1. 
 
Patton turned a 6-3 double play to erase a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth to help Pope face just four batters over the minimum across six innings. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• O'Leary tied former teammate Alyssa Abe ('23) and Jauna Williams ('03) for the most wins in program history with 28. 
• Alvarez set the program record for career games started (154) in game two. She passed Hannah Dal Pra (153) for the program record. Alvarez also became only the third player to reach 100 career RBI (102), when she posted two RBI in game one. 
• In her past two starts, Pope has allowed just seven hits and two runs scored across 10 innings of work. Her two hits allowed on Sunday are the fewest hits she has allowed in an outing that went five innings or longer. 
• The Pioneers posted a season-high 17 hits, 13 runs batted in and 12-run win margin in their victory over Hamline. 
• With their two wins on Sunday, the Pioneers already have the 13^th-most wins in a single-season in program history at 14-0. Head coach Shawna Cyrus is three wins away (197) from reaching 200 wins for her career. 
• The Pioneers played Colby for just the second time in program history. In 2019, Colby defeated Lewis & Clark 8-7 in Florida. Sunday's second contest was the first-ever meeting between Lewis & Clark and Hamline. 
• Junior Tallulah Sickels made her season debut in game two, when she pinch hit and moved Gildersleeve up to third base with a ground out. 

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will play their second of three doubleheaders in Florida on Monday. They will take on Luther College at 9:15 am (Pacific) and then Westminster (Mo.) at 11:30 am (Pacific).