SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth swept visiting George Fox in a Northwest Conference softball doubleheader on Saturday, winning the opener slugfest 14-6 and claiming a 2-0 pitchers' dual in the second game.

Halley Cey led the Pirates (15-3 overall, 10-0 NWC) with three hits and three runs scored. Kayla Winkler led the Bruins (5-15, 3-9) with three hits and three runs batted in.

Game 1: Whitworth 14, George Fox 6 (5 inn.) - Box score
Whitworth pounded season highs of 14 runs and 15 hits in five innings. Cey, Sarah Froman, and Morgan Thomsen all had two hits each, but 12 different Pirates had at least one hit. The biggest blow was Mandee Edwards' three-run home run in the five-run third inning.

Mandee Edwards hit her first HR of 2007

Jessie LaPlante improved to 9-0 in the circle this season, but she was not as sharp as usual. LaPlante allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk. The runs allowed were a season high.

Whitworth scored four runs in the first after three of the first five batters doubled against George Fox pitcher Meagen McCleery.

After Ashley Olson doubled home a run for the Bruins in the second, the Pirates added two more in the bottom half to make it 6-1. Then in the third Edwards' home run drove in Thomsen and Amber Fowler for a 9-1 lead.

With Whitworth leading 14-3 in the top of the ninth, Winkler nearly extended the game when she pulled the Bruins within 14-6 with a three run home run of her own. But LaPlante got the final two outs to end the game on the eight-run rule.

McCleery fell to 1-3 this season for GFU.

Game 2: Whitworth 2, George Fox 0 - Box score

Eckhoff tossed a three-hitter in game 2

Whitworth's Jennifer Eckhoff outdualed George Fox's Winkler to win 2-0. Eckhoff allowed only three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. Winkler allowed two runs with seven strikeouts and two walks.

The only Pirate runs came on a pair of solo home runs. The first was Cey in the third and the second by Case in the fourth. Both were the first of the season for the players.

Eckhoff did not allow a Bruin runner past second base and had only allowed one hit in the game until George Fox got a couple of singles in the seventh to put runners on first and second. But she got Jessica Cardwell to ground out to end the game.

Whitworth and George Fox will complete the four game series with another doubleheader on Sunday, beginning at noon.