SPOKANE, Wash. – Ashley Bartels hit a walk off home run in the first game and Momi Lyman threw a seven-inning shutout in the second contest to give Whitworth a sweep of Saturday's Northwest Conference softball doubleheader over visiting Willamette.
The Pirates (21-9 overall, 11-7 NWC) won the opener 5-3 in dramatic fashion. Whitworth shut out the Bearcats (8-20, 5-13) 6-0 in the second game.
The teams will play another doubleheader on Sunday, beginning at 11:00 am. Whitworth will recognize its senior class prior to the start of the first game.
Game 1 – Whitworth 5, Willamette 3
The Pirates rallied from a 3-0 deficit, tying the game on a Maddy Thomas home run in the sixth and winning it on Bartels' two-run shot in the seventh.
Jordyn Johnson started in the circle for Willamette and retired the first nine Whitworth batters in order and allowed only one hit through the first four innings.
The Bearcats got on the board in the top of the third when Kelsey Wong singled, stole second and scored on Johnson's single. Willamette made it 3-0 in the fourth when Cassie Cosler drilled a two-run home run to center field, her third of the season.
Heather Menzer lit the spark for the Pirate comeback by leading off the bottom of the fifth with a triple. Jazz Johnson followed with an RBI single to right field. After Johnson stole second and moved to third on a ground out, Nashoni Boyd drove in the second run with a pinch-hit single to left center field.
Thomas tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a line drive home run to left center that bounced off the top of the wall. It was her ninth of the season.
Mattea Nelson led off the seventh with a single and Bartels lofted a high fly ball that carried over the fence in right center. It was the third of the season for Bartels.
Corinne Vasiloff (11-8) went the distance in the circle for Whitworth, her NWC-leading 15th complete game of the season. She gave up three earned runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Johnson (3-8) allowed five runs on eight hits in six innings with six strikeouts.
Game 2 – Whitworth 6, Willamette 0
Lyman threw a three-hit shutout to win her tenth game of the year and Menzer hit her fourth home run of the season for the Pirates.
Whitworth scored three in the bottom of the second inning after two were out. Haley Montoya singled with runners on second and third to score the first two runs. Rylee Gentner followed with a double to left field to score Montoya.
Menzer's home run in the third drove in Delayna Waite for a 5-0 lead.
Boyd drew a bases-loaded walk as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth for the final run. Willamette avoided a Mercy Rule ending to the game when Bearcat reliever Faith Collar got the final two outs with the bases still loaded.
Lyman (10-1) struck out four and walked four for her second complete-game shutout of the season. She gave up only one hit until the Bearcats had two in the seventh. But she induced a double play with the bases loaded to end the game.
Kenna Davis (4-7) started in the circle for Willamette and allowed three runs on five hits in two innings. Collar threw the final four frames and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits.
