By: Ryan Lackey

SPOKANE, Wash. --- The in-form Bruins kicked off their playoff run on Friday afternoon with a no-nonsense 6-2 win over Pacific, behind a clinical combination from – who else – pitchers Abbie Bergerson and Madison Sorensen.

Over the past few weeks, the Bruins have eschewed a traditional staff in favor of a micro one-two approach, letting Bergerson and Sorensen split games into, essentially, two separate starts. The dividends have been massive.

The Bruins' Big Two allowed Pacific just one run each and combined for five strikeouts. Madison Sorensen, in her three innings of relief, took the win.

It wasn't all pitching for the Bruins, though. Hitting third, third baseman Amanda Woods picked a good day to go 4-4 with a triple, driving in three runs. Leadoff batter Kat Hylton also rapped two hits.

Despite the Bruins putting runners on in the first and second, Pacific took the game's first lead in the third, when Rachel Roberts accomplished something few can: she homered off of Madison Bergerson to give the Boxers a 1-0 lead.

Pacific doubled that lead in the fifth, when they strung together two singles, a bunt, and a wild pitch to make the score 2-0.

The Bruins, though, would not be denied. Kayla Anderson doubled in Hylton in the bottom of the fifth to get George Fox on the board, followed closely by Annie Veatch, whose RBI groundout evened the score at 2-2.

In the sixth, the Bruins put the game away. Courtney Howard, Rebecca Pridmore, and Hylton all singled to load the bases. After an error on Anderson's grounder gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead, Amanda Woods ripped a screamer into the right-center gap, tripling the bases clear and sealing the Bruins' 6-2 win.

With the win, George Fox earned its first ever 30 win season in program history and its first ever win in the NWC Tournament. 

Game 2

After a promising start to the conference playoff campaign, the Bruins found their offense too late during their second game on Friday, losing to Linfield, 4-2. The loss means the Bruins have a must-win game with hosts Whitworth tomorrow morning; the winner gets another crack at Linfield. 

On a brighter note, Julia Apodaca again flashed the brilliance she's hinted at all season, going 2-3 and driving in both Bruin runs. After a monster game earlier in the day, Amanda Woods got little to hit, finishing 1-1 with two walks,

Through the first three innings, the Bruins' typical plan of Bergerson and Sorensen worked as it typically does. Bergerson held the Wildcats scoreless through three, but Linfield got to her in the fourth, scratching out on a run on McKenna Spieth's RBI double. Unusually for the Bruins, the bleeding didn't cease.

Linfield tacked on two more in the fifth with the help of another double, this one by Erin Kinney. The Bruins nearly got on the scoreboard in their half of the fifth: Apodaca stood on third and Becca Olsen on first with no outs, but George Fox was unable to bring them home.

Sorensen replaced Bergerson with one out left in the fifth, and Linfield greeted her by scoring again in the sixth. A single and a hit-by-pitch put two runners on base, and Megan Furtado's error let Jenica Neuffer race home with Linfield's fourth run.

Kat Hylton reached base in the Bruins' seventh, but Linfield ensured that the 4-2 final stood.

Linfield was the only team to manage to go undefeated in the first round of the Northwest Conference Tournament. The Bruins will play host school and #1 seed Whitworth in an epic showdown to see if they can punch their ticket to the championship game tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m.