SPOKANE, Wash. – Offense was dominant on a rainy Spokane Saturday, Whitworth earned a split with second-place Lewis & Clark, winning game one 5-4 before dropping game two 12-6 at Diana Marks field.
Both teams trooped through a long weather delay that pushed back game one nearly two hours, but the Pirates (7-15, 3-7 NWC) responded to win their first home game of the 2024 season, doing so against the Pioneers (14-8, 8-2 NWC) who are currently in second place in the NWC. The two teams combined for 28 hits in the second game of the doubleheader.
Whitworth and L&C will finish off the four-game series on Sunday with a doubleheader at 11 and 1:30.
Game 1 – Whitworth 5, Lewis & Clark 4
Haley Montoya and Reagan Ellis helped spark the Pirates to a 5-1 lead after two innings, and Corinne Vasiloff threw a complete game as Whitworth took game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
Montoya tagged a triple off the left field wall in the first at bat for Whitworth. With two outs in the inning, Lyman drew a walk before Jazz Johnson and Jessica Rusconi were both hit by pitch. Reagan Ellis drove in two runs with a single to right field, and Whitworth led 3-0 after one inning.
Montoya singled to center in the second to bring home another run before Julia Dillon cranked a double to left center to score Montoya for a 5-1 lead. The Pioneers cut that deficit in half in the third capitalizing on a two-out passed ball and an infield single by Scroggins to score Alvarez.
Maggie O'Leary's day was short as she gave up five runs in just 35 pitches through 1.2 innings. She came into the game having given up just 10 earned runs all season but was replaced after Dillon's double in the second inning. Ryan Jurischk pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Pioneers, Whitworth did not score a run after the second inning and left four on base during that time.
With two outs in the sixth, Garcia singled to drive in Scroggins and bring the Pioneers within a run. But Vasiloff shut it down in the final frame retiring three batters in a row to clinch her fourth win of the season on the mound. Vasiloff threw a complete game and allowed four runs on six hits.
Game 2 – Lewis & Clark 12, Whitworth 6
The Pioneers stormed out of the gates in game two, scoring three runs in both the first and second inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Ozuna led the game off with a double, and Momi Lyman hit two batters to put the Pirates in an early jam. Taylor Hofheins committed an error allowing two runs to score but Lyman was able to stop the bleeding there.
In the second inning, Harper Campanell ricocheted a double off Lyman's leg to score another pair of runs for L&C, and that was the end of Lyman's day on the mound. Reese McIntyre took over and pitched 3.2 innings of relief, allowing two earned (four total) runs.
The Pirates tacked on two runs in the fourth inning as Hofheins, Pederson and Montoya led off the inning with singles. Hofford brought home one run with a sacrifice fly to center before Rusconi's bloop single brought home Pederson. Whitworth drew a run closer in the fifth as Kelly Hruza's single to right was mishandled allowing Jazz Johnson to come home, making it a 6-4 game.
L&C responded pushing three runs across in the sixth, highlighted by an RBI double from Campanell, but the Pirates came back swinging in the bottom of the frame. Montoya ripped her second triple of the day to the gap in right and Hofford scored her with contact to second. Rusconi delivered a solo blast to left, Johnson followed that with a double down the left field line but O'Leary returned to the mound and popped up Reagan Ellis to close the inning.
Mari Alvarez added to the Pioneers' 9-6 lead with a three-run blast, her third home run of the year, to double L&C's lead in the top of the seventh. Whitworth outhit L&C 15-13 in game two but were doubled up in runs.
Montoya and Johnson set the tone for the Pirates both hitting 3-4 from the plate, Hofford led the team with three RBIs.
