Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 By: Ryan Lackey
NEWBERG, Ore. --- George Fox University's softball team brought out the broomsticks Saturday afternoon, as the Bruins beat the Boxers of Pacific University in a Northwest Conference double-header.
Game 1
Rightfully considered quite a dynamic duo, the Bruins' one-two punch atop the pitching rotation – Abbie Bergerson and Madison Sorensen – proved that pitching does, indeed, win games on Saturday. Bergerson, who threw four innings and clinched her 17th win of the season, and Sorensen, who threw three innings of relief and notched her third save, combined to strike out ten in the Bruins' 2-0 shutout victory over Pacific University.
Stingy as always, Bergerson allowed just one hit over her four innings. Sorensen gave up a paltry three hits and struck out six.
Luckily for Pacific, the game remained close only because the starting pitchers seemed to rule the day. Pacific's starter, Marissa Reichard, was also sharp, stymieing the Bruins until the top of the fourth, when Kayla Anderson led off the inning by slicing a double down the left field line. Amanda Woods followed with a flyout, but Megan Furtado reached base on an error.
After Kat Hylton, jammed, popped out, Annie Veatch came to bat with two outs and two on. Veatch jumped on Reichard's first true mistake of the game and laced it into the right-center gap, scoring Furtado and Anderson, and putting the Bruins ahead, 2-0.
The Bruins, of course, never released their grip on that lead. Pacific was closest to scoring in the seventh, loading the bases with only one out. Sorensen, though, buckled down and recorded two blazing strikeouts to seal the game.
George Fox carried a 28-9 record into Saturday's second game.
Game 2
After combining masterfully in the opener, the Bruins' pitching partnership between Madison Sorensen and Abbie Bergerson again came together to shut out Pacific University in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, a classic 1-0 pitcher's duel.
The two split the game as evenly as possible: Bergerson threw three and two-third innings, and Sorensen, three and one-third. Once again, Bergerson took the victory, allowing only a single hit, and Sorensen claimed the save, grudging just two hits. Bergerson's victory was her 18th of the season, and a 20-win season seems well possible. Sorensen's save was her fifth.
Pacific was nearly up to the task of reigning in the Bruins' prolific offense. Starter Jessica Hotaling threw a complete game, and George Fox managed just four hits off of her. Hotaling, though, was not perfect, on a day when only perfection could have beaten Sorensen and Bergerson.
In the third inning, Rebecca Pridmore worked a walk to give the Bruins just their second baserunner of the game. The next batter, Julia Apodaca, stroked a clean single through the middle, and a wild pitch sent both runners into scoring position. Kayla Anderson walloped a moonshot fly into left, plenty deep to let Pridmore race in with the game's first, only, and deciding run.
The win was George Fox's 29th of the season; the Bruins' 29-9 record (19-7 in conference) is good for second in the NWC, just a single game behind leaders Whitworth. Tomorrow's doubleheader with Pacific, the final two games of the season, will prove decisive.
