TACOMA, Wash.—Despite a big day at the plate from senior Sam Gildersleeve and another strong outing from junior Charlize Pope, Lewis & Clark College softball was forced to settle for a doubleheader split with host Pacific Lutheran University. 
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 4, Pacific Lutheran 1 
Pacific Lutheran 8, Lewis & Clark 7
(Lewis & Clark 22-4, Northwest Conference 14-2)
(Pacific Lutheran 15-9, NWC 5-7) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Pope put together her second-straight excellent outing in Sunday's opener to lead the Pioneers to a 4-1 win. Lewis & Clark looked they were on their way to cruising to a series win, before the Lutes scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to grab a 7-6 lead. Gildersleeve hit a go-ahead, two-run, two-out homer, to give the Pioneers the lead back (8-7) in the top of the seventh but the Lutes answered with two runs of their own to earn a walk-off win. 
 
Gildersleeve finished the day 5-7 with one run, six RBI, two doubles, a home run and two stolen bases. Her home run in game was the 40^th home run of her collegiate career. 
 
GAME ONE
 
Pope limited the hosts to six hits and one run over seven innings and Gildersleeve drove in three to help Lewis & Clark earn their second win of the weekend. 
 
Pope allowed six singles, one walk and one unearned run and tied her season-high with six strikeouts. 
 
Gildersleeve finished 3-3 with a pair of doubles and three RBI. Junior Lacey Marglin and sophomore Makena Dahir each finished 2-4 with two runs scored and a double. 

The Pioneers took the lead with two runs in the top of the second. Dahir led off the frame with a double to left-center. Marglin followed with a bunt single and Gildersleeve singled through the right side to plate Dahir. After a Cami Restagno sac bunt moved Marglin to third, Caeleigh Rosenbach drove in Marglin with an RBI ground out. 
 
Lewis & Clark doubled their lead in the third. With one down, Dahir started the rally with a single. Marglin followed with a double to right-center and Gildersleeve plated both runners with a two-run double into the left-field corner. 
 
Pacific Lutheran put runners on in all but one inning but Pope would snuff out every rally. The Lutes scored their lone run in the fifth when they took advantage of an error to the leadoff batter. 
 
Pope stranded eight runners in the contest and Lewis & Clark turned an inning-ending double play to end the second inning. 
 
GAME TWO RECAP 
 
The two teams combined to score 12 runs over the final three innings with Pacific Lutheran slipping past Lewis & Clark on a Mya Grado walk-off single. 
 
Marglin, Gildersleeve and Dahir paced the Pioneers offensively for a second-straight game. 
 
Marglin finished 3-4 with one run, three RBI, a double, a triple and a stolen base. Gildersleeve chipped in two hits, one run, three RBI and a home run. Dahir tacked on two hits, two runs and an RBI. 
 
In the circle, junior Maggie O'Leary allowed 12 hits and five runs to fall to 12-3. Pope came on in relief and was charged with three hits and four runs over 0.2 innings. 
 
Pacific Lutheran jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second on RBI doubles from Ashleighn McAuley and Grado. 
 
The Pioneers took control of the game with three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings. 
 
Junior Gina Ozuna led off the fourth with a double and Mari Alvarez walked to put runners on the corners with one out. Dahir cut the deficit to 2-1 with an RBI single and Marglin made it 2-2 when she delivered an RBI single to score pinch runner Pippi Jepsen. After Marglin stole second, Gildersleeve lined a single through the left side to make it 3-2. 
 
Lewis & Clark tacked on three more runs in the fifth. With one out, Emily Patton crushed her first collegiate home run over the left-center field wall. Alvarez followed with a hit by pitch and Dahir singled to put two on with one out. Marglin drove in both runners with a two-run triple to right-center. 
 
Pcific Lutheran started their comeback with a single run in the bottom of the fifth. They tacked on four, two-out runs in the bottom of the sixth to grab a 7-6 lead. Grado came up with the big hit with a two-run homer to center. 
 
With the Pioneers down to their final out in the top of the seventh, Marglin doubled to left and Gildersleeve crushed a homer to center to make it 8-7. 
 
Pacific Lutheran answered with two runs to earn the win. Kamalani Doctor opened the frame with a triple and scored on Kimara Blakely's RBI single. Blakeley raced all the way to third base on a sac bunt and scored on Grado's bloop single to right field. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Alvarez set the program record for career at-bats over the weekend. She passed Hannah Dal Pra ('16) on Saturday and sits first all-time with 484 career at-bats. 
• With her big day on Sunday, Gildersleeve became the third player in program history to reach 150 career hits (154). She also reached 130 career RBI (131), 25 doubles and 40 home runs. 
• In her last four starts, Pope has allowed just three runs in 23 innings. She is 4-0 in that span with a 0.91 earned run average. 
• With their game one win, the 2024 Pioneers team sits second all-time in program history for overall wins (22) and conference wins (14-2). 
• Marglin finished the week 8-14 (.571) with four runs, three RBI, three doubles and a triple. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will travel to McMinnville for a huge four-game set against defending Northwest Conference Champions Linfield University. The Pioneers will kick off the series against #4 Linfield on Friday with a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m.