Game 1: Whitworth 5, Willamette 2 (Complete box and play by play) 2006 Northwest Conference Standings
SALEM, Ore. - Whitworth went on the road and split a four game softball series at Willamette over the weekend, winning two and losing two and moving to 24-10 overall and 19-5 in the Northwest Conference. While Whitworth dropped to one game behind Linfield in the NWC standings, the Pirates still control their own destiny as they head to Linfield (20-4) for the final four game series of the season this coming weekend. Game summaries from Geoff Sugerman (Willamette SID). Game 1: The Pirates broke open a pitcher’s duel between Jo Sonnet and Brittney Tachara with a four-run third innings. After a close play at the plate where Heather Case scored on Sarah Froman’s two-out single, Jodi Schock walked and both scored on Sonnet’s three-run home run. Willamette came back with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Geneva Hale’s double drove home Marissa Richards. LaShawna Holcomb drove home Cirbi Anthony in the fifth to make it 4-2, but that was as close as the Bearcats would get. Whitworth added an insurance run on Case’s home run leading off the seventh innings and Sonnet made it stand up for a 5-2 victory, her 17th in the circle this season. Sonnett struck out 12 batters and walked only two. Game 2: The Bearcats broke out with a three-run first inning. Richards drove home Liz Gilgan for the Bearcats’ first run. She went to second on a single by Molly Barnes and came around to score on a throwing error. Bailey Harris knocked in Barnes to give the Bearcats a 3-0 lead. Whitworth got one run back in the third. Starter Laura Milne, battling control problems, walked Heather Case. After a walk to Lindsey Davis, Cuny, tied for the Division III lead in saves, allowed a hit to Froman to drive home one run. The Bearcats came back with three more in the bottom of the sixth against Sonnett, who had relieved starter Jennifer Eckhoff. Gilgan doubled home Anthony and scored when the Pirates misplayed Holcomb’s ground ball. Richards drove home Holcomb with a double down the left field line to make it 6-1. Eckhoff took the loss to fall to 6-4 this season. She gave up three runs (two earned) in the first 1.1 innings. Whitworth had the same number of hits as Willamette (8), but left ten runners on base. Game 3: For the first time this season, Sonnett gave up a lead late in the game. The Bearcats fell behind 6-1 in the opener as the Pirates jumped on starter Nikki Franchi for six runs, including home runs by Case, Sonnett and Rachel Anderson. Meanwhile, Sonnet was mowing down the Bearcats, allowing only one run on Geneva Hale’s RBI double through five innings. All that changed in the sixth when the Bearcats reached Sonnet for four runs. Holcomb and Richards opened the inning with back-to-back doubles to get the first run home. Barnes singled home Richards with the second run and the final two runs scored when Cari Schruth’s grounder was booted by Whitworth. Blair Cuny came in to pitch for the Bearcats, and allowed an RBI single by Sara Rylaarsdam to make the score 8-5, setting the stage for Molly Barnes, who hit a walk-off three run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Sonnett stuck out eight without a walk, but fell to 17-5 this season. Game 4: Liz Gilgan led off the bottom of the first with a home run, but a slew of six errors gave the Pirates an 8-1 lead. Whitworth’s Lindsey Davis hit a two run home run off the glove of Holcomb, while Kristin Hanson and Jodi Schock each added a pair of RBI as the Pirates scored four times in the second and twice more in the third to open up a big lead. In the bottom of the sixth, down 8-1, consecutive singles by Hale, Brittany Dearing and Marianne Ward loaded the bases. Bailey Harris knocked in one run with a RBI groundout. Schruth got a second run home with her groundout and Liz Gilgan doubled home the Bearcats third run. In the seventh, Bares singled with one out and came home on Hale’s home run. But after Ward walked and Harris singled, Sonnet ended the threat by inducing a ground ball out. Eckoff went 6.1 innings in the circle to improve to 7-4. She allowed six runs on 11 hits. Sonnett got the final two outs to pick up her first save of the season. Up Next: Whitworth travels to McMinnville, Oregon to take on two-time defending champion Linfield College in the final series of the season for both schools. In each of the last two seasons Linfield has taken a four game series from the Pirates three games to one early in the year and used the momentum to win the conference. This time the teams are meeting in the final weekend. With Whitworth trailing in the standings by one game, a split of the series would give the Wildcats the outright title. The Pirates will have to sweep to earn their own outright title. However, if the Bucs win three games and tie Linfield in the final standings, Whitworth would receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament based on head to head results. |
