SB: TUCSON INVITATIONAL - Bruins Open Tourney with Wins over Otterbein, Whittier

TUCSON, Ariz. - Strong pitching performances by Taylor Whitmore and Erin Lee carried George Fox University to an 8-1 win over the Otterbein College Cardinals and a 6-2 victory over the Whittier College Poets on the Bruins’ first day of play in the Tucson Invitational Softball Games Saturday here at Lincoln Park.

Whitmore (2-6) scattered eight hits with three strikeouts and one walk in the win over Otterbein.  The only run she allowed came in the top of the 4th on Brittney Kuhn’s single which scored Liz Holthaus, but by then the Bruins were already up 3-0.

George Fox got its first run in the bottom of the 1st off Otterbein starter Natalie Zwicker (1-2) when Kerrianne Davidson doubled and scored on an error by Casey Clarridge on Bethany Chriss’s fly to center.  The Bruins scored a pair in the 3rd on a two-run double by Shelby Briske that drove home Becka Doyle and Chriss, who had reached on a fielder’s choice and a single respectively.

The Bruins salted the game away with a five-spot in the 6th.  Amy Lepire reached on catcher’s interference and Shelby Klein, playing for the first time in two weeks after missing four games with a concussion, hit her first home run of the season to left to get the explosion going.  Amy Peterson was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on a throwing error by third baseman Kristen Roby, and Chriss later added a two-run single to bring home Nicole Renteria and Davidson. 

Davidson, Chriss, and Briske all had two hits for the Bruins, Davidson scoring twice and the other two driving in a pair apiece.  Clarridge and Holthaus had two hits each for the Cardinals.

Lee (4-4) tossed a five-hitter with three strikeouts and no walks in the Whittier game, and the two runs the Poets got in the 4th were unearned.  Heather Dady (4-3) took the loss for Whittier.

Klein singled in Briske for the Bruins’ first run in the 2nd, and Renteria and Doyle scored in the 3rd on a bases-loaded walk to Chriss and a passed ball.  Holding a slim 3-2 lead in the top of the 7th, the Bruins scored three more times when Lee was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Klein delivered a two-run single.

George Fox is now 6-10 on the season, while Otterbein is 1-6 and Whittier is 12-9.  The Bruins play again Sunday, taking on the University of British Columbia at 1:30 p.m., followed by North Central College (Ill.) at 3:30 p.m.

The Whittier box score was unavailable at press time.