SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth blasted three home runs in one nine-run inning to defeat visiting Willamette 11-0 in the finale of a four-game Northwest Conference softball series on Sunday afternoon at Diana Marks Field.  The Bearcats claimed the opening game 3-1 to avoid a four-game sweep.

Whitworth, now 10-4 overall and 3-1 in the NWC, will host Pacific Lutheran next weekend.  Willamette (1-9, 1-3) will host Pacific on Saturday in the Bearcats' first home games of the 2015 season.

Game 1 – Willamette 3, Whitworth 1
Jade Smith threw a complete-game to lead the Bearcats to their first win of 2015.

Smith tossed seven innings, allowing one unearned run on seven hits while improving to 1-3 this season.  She did not walk or strikeout a batter.

Whitworth had a chance to get on the board first when Kelsey Stroshine opened the second inning with a triple.  But Smith retired the next three Pirate batters on ground balls to escape unscathed.

Willamette scored all three of its runs in the fifth inning.  With one out Molly Lathrop reached on an error, then came home on Heather Winslow's double to center field.  One out later Myranda Ramirez homered, her first of the season.  All three runs against Whitworth starter Madi Perez were unearned.

The Pirates got one run back in the sixth inning.  With Chelsey Hayes on second base and one out, Peyton McMahon hit a ball to the right of second baseman Kathryn Moore.  Moore got to the ball, could not field it cleanly, then injured herself trying to make a play and dropped the ball.  That allowed Hayes to come around and score. 

Then Smith got out of trouble when Stroshine lined into a double play at shortstop.

Sacha Clow led off the ninth inning with a single up the middle.  But the Pirates could not advance Clow into scoring position and Kelsey Downey's soft line drive back to Smith ended the game.

Perez dropped to 5-2 this season after allowing three runs, none earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Game 2 – Whitworth 11, Willamette 0 (5 innings)
Kayla Batastini, Peyton McMahon and Kelsey Stroshine all homered in a nine-run third inning to lift the Pirates to an easy win in the series finale.

Whitworth scored twice in the first inning on only one hit as Willamette starter Victoria Bradshaw walked three batters.  Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Tessa Matthews, who drew the third walk of the inning to force in the first run.  Then Sacha Clow lofted a fly ball to center field to drive in the second run with a sacrifice fly.

The big third inning rally started with McMahon's single through the right side.  After the bases were loaded with one out, Kelsey Downey singled through the right side to drive in two runs.  Batastini followed with her first homer of the season, a line drive over the left field wall that drove in three more runs to increase the lead to 7-0.  Molly Steck reached on an error and Hayes grounded out for the second out of the frame.  Alyssa Hall followed with an RBI single up the middle.  That brought McMahan back to the plate and she drove a ball high off of the scoreboard in right field for a two-run homer that made it 10-0.  Stroshine made it back-to-back bombs with a solo shot to left field.  It was the second of the season for both McMahan and Stroshine.

Meanwhile Whitworth starting pitcher Makayla Lefever was cruising to her fifth win of the season.  She allowed four hits with three strikeouts and two walks in the five-inning shutout.