NEWBERG, Ore. - Bethany Chriss went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, and four RBIs, leading the George Fox University Bruins to a 9-1 second-game win in six innings and a split of their Northwest Conference softball doubleheader with the University of Puget Sound Loggers Sunday afternoon here at Morse Field.

The Loggers took the opener 5-3 behind the complete-game effort of Auriel Sperberg (2-4), who scattered six hits and struck out 10 with a pair of walks.  Sperberg out-dueled Taylor Whitmore (1-6) in a game that was in doubt until the final pitch.

The Bruins' second-game victory enabled them to snap a 10-game losing streak and pick up their first conference win of the season.  George Fox is now 4-10 overall and 1-7 in the NWC.  Puget Sound had its own three-game winning streak severed in the second game as the Loggers fell to 3-9 overall and 3-5 in the conference.

Puget Sound took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning of the opener on a two-run single by Katy Appleby, but the Bruins got one back in the 4th as Nicole Renteria singled and Kerrianne Davidson doubled her home.  A two-run home run by Aryn Grause, her second of the season, made it 4-1 Loggers in the 5th, but again the Bruins came back, scoring twice in the 6th on a two-run double by Erin Lee.

The Loggers added one more in the 7th as Brianna Huber singled to drive in Carolyn Moore.  In the home 7th, Amy Peterson was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Sperberg preserved the win with a pop to short, a fly to center, and her 10th strikeout.

Whitmore was touched for seven hits, including two each by Moore and Alex Usher, while striking out two and walking four in 7.0 innings.  Renteria had two of the Bruins' safeties.

In the nightcap, Lee (3-5) worked 6.0 innings, scattering nine hits, with two strikeouts and a walk.  Grause (1-4) started and took the loss for the Loggers, surrendering nine hits and seven runs, six earned, in 3.0+ innings, fanning three and walking none.  Sperberg finished up with 2.0 innings, allowing four hits with four K's.

George Fox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st on an RBI single by Chriss and a double steal on which Becka Doyle stole home.  Appleby singled in the Loggers' only run in the 2nd, but the Bruins got it right back in their half as Davidson singled in Peterson. 

The Bruins began to pull away with four in the 4th.  Lee scored the first run on a throwing error, Davidson singled in a run, Renteria scored on a fielding error, and Chriss doubled to center to drive in the final run.  Chriss then ended the game with her third home run of the season to left following a double by Doyle with none out in the 6th, instituting the eight-run 'mercy' rule.

Davidson and Peterson also had three hits for the Bruins, who had 13 in all, and Doyle had two.  Cassie Walny and Christina Demuelenaere had two hits apiece for the Loggers.

George Fox steps outside the conference next weekend for six contests in the Tucson (Ariz.) Invitational Games, starting Saturday with games against Otterbein College at 1:30 p.m. and Whittier College at 3:30 p.m.   Puget Sound heads for the SunWest Tournament in Orange, Calif., this week, playing Tuesday against Suffolk University at 12:00 noon and host Chapman University at 2:00 p.m.