NEWBERG, Ore. - Nicole Renteria dumped a soft single over the head of Whitworth University's drawn-in left fielder to score Taylor Whitmore from second in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the George Fox University Bruins a hard-fought 9-8 victory over the Pirates in Northwest Conference softball action Sunday here at Morse Field.

Two games were scheduled for Sunday, but the second was rained out.  No makeup date has been determined yet, but the teams may try to get together for the fourth and final game of the series when Whitworth makes its only remaining trip to Oregon to play Willamette the weekend of Apr. 24-25.

Whitworth took a 1-0 lead on the very first pitch off the game when Sami Parr sent a Whitmore offering over the fence in straightaway center field.  The Bruins rebounded with four in the 2nd off Pirate southpaw Jessica Dickson.  Kerrianne Davidson reached on an error to lead off, and singles by Shelby Klein and Amy Lepire loaded the bases.  Erin Lee was hit by a pitch to force in the tying run, Klein scored on a wild pitch, and Renteria grounded a two-run single through the right side. 

The Bruins made it 5-1 in the 3rd.  Bethany Chriss led off with a single, knocking out Dickson in favor of right-hander Jillian Stewart, who wild-pitched her to second.  After Davidson walked and Klein's grounder moved the runners up, Lepire delivered an RBI single to right.

The Pirates got a pair of unearned runs in the 4th on a sacrifice fly by Ashley Carey and a run-scoring ground out by Caty Lieseke, but the Bruins answered with three more runs in the home half to make it an 8-3 game.  Chriss doubled in Renteria, who had reached on a bunt single, with the first run, and Klein's double to left-center scored Chriss and Davidson, who was on with a walk.

Whitworth picked up a run in the 5th as Parr singled and Kelsey Ayers and Lacey Kerr drew walks to load the bases with one out, bringing on Lee from right field to replace Whitmore.  A wild pitch scored Parr, then the Pirates used the long ball in the next two innings to get back in the game. 

Lieseke hit a solo home run in the 6th, her second of the season, to make it 8-5.  In the 7th, Kerr singled to lead off, and Whitmore was brought back in for Lee.  Pinch-runner Brittany Wisner was called out for leaving first too soon, which proved costly when Jamie Brunner homered to center to make it 8-6, Heather Hesselgesser singled, and Carey walloped a long home run to right-center to tie it 8-8.  It was Brunner's third and Carey's second of the season.

Dickson, who had returned to the mound in the 6th, stranded Bruin runners in scoring position in the 6th and 7th innings and worked 1-2-3 frames in the 8th and 9th.  Lee replaced Whitmore again in the 8th after the first two Pirates had walked and got out of that jam with three ground outs, then left Parr, who had doubled for her fifth hit of the game, standing at third at the end of the 10th as Kerr grounded out.

Whitmore opened the last of the 10th with a chopper to short that was juggled by Hesselgesser.  After trying twice to sacrifice and fouling off two pitches, Amy Peterson hit a slow roller to second that did the trick, advancing Whitmore to second.  The Pirate outfield moved in close for Renteria, a speedy slap hitter, who got enough of the ball to send it beyond Ayers in left, who tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch but missed, allowing Whitmore to motor home with the winning run without a throw.

Dickson (2-2) suffered the setback after working a total of 6.1 innings, allowing nine hits and six runs, though only two were earned.  She fanned two and walked none.  Lee (6-6) tossed 4.2 innings in her two stints on the hill to get the win, spacing six hits and allowing only one of the Pirates' runs, with no walks and no strikeouts.

Renteria, Chriss, and Klein all had 3-for-5 games for the Bruins, who had 13 safeties in all, and Lepire had two hits.  Renteria drove in three and Klein two.  In addition to Parr's 5-for-5 day, Brunner and Hesselgesser had two hits apiece as the Pirates banging out 12 hits in all.  Carey had three RBIs.

George Fox (8-15, NWC 2-9) visits NWC co-leader Linfield College Friday for a 12:00 noon doubleheader.  Whitworth (9-10, NWC 3-8), which had its eight-game winning streak snapped, hosts the University of Puget Sound Friday for two, also at noon.