SALEM, Ore. – Based on a rule in the Northwest Conference softball policy manual which was passed last year, Wednesday's game between the George Fox University Bruins and the Willamette University Bearcats which was suspended by darkness in the top of the 7th with the visiting Bruins ahead 9-2 will go into the books as a George Fox victory.

Playing a makeup doubleheader of games that were rained out on Mar. 2, the Bruins took the opener 14-5, and were leading in the 7th and batting with two out and two on when the game was halted.  No results or statistics were recorded by the two teams in expectation that the game would be completed at a later date, but the NWC policy manual covers such situations with the following:

“3.4.2.2 All NWC games will operate under the 'halted game rule' to be completed at the next available date, weather permitting at either school. If there are remaining games between institutions, the next series vs. the two teams will begin with the completion of the halted game being completed prior to the regularly scheduled games. The halted game does not have to be completed if it is the last game in the four-game series if it is considered to be a completed game (5 innings). [5/13]”

As a result, the Bruins picked up a critical win in the race for a berth in the four-team NWC Tournament coming up Apr. 18-19, while the Bearcats suffered an serious setback.  George Fox is now 23-12 overall and 12-11 in the conference, while Willamette fell to 16-16 overall and 12-10 in the league.  The Bearcats are in fourth, with the Bruins half a game back.

In the game itself, Kayla Anderson blasted her second home run of the day and sixth of the season with Felicia Chavez aboard in the 1st to give the Bruins an early 2-0 lead.  In the 2nd, Anderson doubled in a pair of runs and Amanda Woods followed with an RBI single.  Baylee Westrick doubled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Ashley Bunce in the 3rd.  Megan Furtado drilled a two-run single in the 5th, and the Bruins scored again in the 6th on singles by Kay Hylton, Woods, and Courtney Howard.

Woods led a 14-hit Bruin attack with three hits, while Anderson, Howard, Bunce and Furtado had two hits apiece.  Anderson drove in four, Furtado two, and Chavez and Hylton scored two runs each.  Alex Shields was the only Bearcat with two hits, scoring one and driving in one.

On the mound, Allyssa DenDekker (7-6) went the first five innings for the Bruins' win, spacing four hits with a strikeout and four walks.  Only one of the two runs she allowed was earned.  Erin Hento worked the 6th, giving up one hit with a strikeout.  Hayley Glantz (2-4), the first of three Bearcat pitchers, took the loss, allowing six hits and six runs, five earned, with four strikeouts and two walks in two-plus innings.

NEXT: George Fox hosts Lewis & Clark College Friday in a 5:00 p.m. that will complete four makeup games from a series that was rained out on Feb. 8-9 … Willamette goes to league-leading Linfield College Saturday for a 12:00 noon.