Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

SALEM, Ore.  – Nikki Franchi threw a no-hitter in the first game and Alex Watilo threw a three-hitter in the second as the 10th-ranked Willamette University Bearcats blanked the George Fox University Bruins 8-0 and 10-0 in a pair of five-inning Northwest Conference softball games Sunday afternoon here at the WU softball field.

Franchi (11-1) walked Amy Peterson to start the first game and then retired 15 batters in a row.  The 2008 NWC Player of the Year, who also threw a no-hitter at Lewis & Clark College earlier in the week on Wednesday, finished with 10 strikeouts.  A diving catch by LaShawna Holcomb in center field in the 4th inning on a ball hit by Kerstyn Tsuruda helped preserve the no-hitter. 

Chelsea Bradely (4-18) took the loss for the Bruins, allowing eight hits and eight runs, five earned, with four strikeouts and two walks.

The Bearcats got Franchi the only run she would need in the 1st Sierra Lessel singled to right, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice, and scored on a wild pitch.  In the 3rd, Mica Romero hit a two-run single and Susie Krewer singled in another.  The Bearcats ended the game with four in the bottom  of the 5th to bring the game to an 'eight-run rule' end, Nicole Wallace hitting a two-run single and Romero and Talissa Huntsman also singling in runs.

In the second game, Watilo (10-0) allowed only singles to Tsuruda and Shelby Briske in the 1st and another to Briske in the 4th.  She also hit one batter and fanned six.  Erin Lee (0-3) allowed 10 hits and six earned runs with one strikeout and three walks for the Bruins.

Willamette scored in each of the four innings in which they batted, with two in the 1st and 2nd innings and three runs in both the 3rd and 4th.  Suzannah Von Trapp hit her fifth home run of the year, a solo shot leading off the 4th, and Holcomb added a two-run blast, her first, later in the frame.

Krewer was 3-for-3 to lead the Bearcats at the plate, while Holcomb and Cirbi Anthony had two hits apiece.  Holcomb scored three runs and drove in two.

George Fox (4-21, NWC 3-13) welcomes Pacific University for four at home next weekend, with a 2:00 p.m. doubleheader scheduled for Friday and a pair at 12:00 noon on Saturday.  Willamette (21-2, NWC 14-2) hosts the University of Puget Sound Friday at 12:00 noon in a conference twinbill.