FOREST GROVE, Ore. – Taylor Gibert pitched her second victory of the season to lift Whitworth to a split on the second day of a Northwest Conference softball series at Pacific University. The Pirates dropped the opener 4-3, but won the series finale 6-3 behind Gilbert's pitching.
Whitworth broke a three-game losing streak to improve to 4-14 overall and 2-10 in the NWC. The Boxers are now 8-12, 6-6.
Game 1 – Pacific 4, Whitworth 3
The Pirates nearly rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the late innings and had the potential tying run thrown out at the plate in the sixth inning.
The game was tied 1-1 after Whitworth scored an unearned run in the second inning. Pacific then grabbed its 4-1 lead in the third. Three straight Boxer doubles led to the first run, and then a throwing error allowed the final two to score.
Jamie Brunner's double drove home a run and pulled the Pirates within 4-2 in the fifth. Whitworth got within 4-3 in the sixth after Jessica Ross tripled and scored on an infield hit by Hanna Boyd. When Sami Parr reached on a fielding error, Boyd attempted to score from second base and was out at home.
Brunner and Boyd both had two hits and an RBI to lead Whitworth at the plate. Gilbert threw 3.2 innings of hitless relief for starter Jessica Ross.
Game 2 – Whitworth 6, Pacific 3
The Pirates jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and Sasha Clow hit a home run to give the Pirates a win in the series finale.
Julie Johnson doubled home the first run and Ross tripled in the third run, sandwiched around Heather Hesselgesser's RBI single.
Johnson led off the third with a single and pinch-runner Ashlyn Mundo eventually scored on a fielder's choice.
After the Boxers pulled within 4-2, pinch-hitter Peyton McMahon singled in a run in the fifth and Clow hit her first home run of the season in the sixth.
Gilbert started and finished the game, allowing two runs on four hits to improve to 2-1. Riley Fritz pitched 2.1 innings in the middle of the game.
Whitworth will host Puget Sound next weekend in a four-game NWC series.
