NEWBERG, Ore. --- No. 23 George Fox softball is back in the Northwest Conference tournament the seventh straight season after notching a 30-10 record during the regular season with a 22-6 ledger against conference opponents.

The Bruins are in the field as the no. 2 seed behind top seed and tourney host, Linfield, and are ahead of no. 3 Pacific Lutheran and no. 4 Whitworth.

The annual double-elimination tourney will start with a 4:00 pm game on Friday, Apr. 22, between Whitworth and Linfield. Fox is scheduled to face Pacific Lutheran at 6:30 pm on Friday.

The Bruins have found their stride on offense at the right time as they have trended up the conference leaderboard for runs, hits, average, and RBI all season long. They are once again leading the nation in homers and homers per game with five players that have hit double-digit homers this season. Led by freshman catcher Sydney Sandifer (13), the Bruins have hit 68 homers this year and multiple grand slams, including three from Sandifer. Claire Fountain has 12 homers on the year and recently tied the career record at Fox with 42, Sharon Tomei has hit 11 so far, and Kamryn Potter and Katie Ladd each have 10 on the season.

The Bruins present a series of tough choices for opposing pitchers as their top sluggers also can hit for average - four of their five home-run leaders hit .333 or better - and have combined for 90 free bases via walks or hit-by-pitch.

In the circle, Ashley Davis leads the nation in wins (21), is among national leaders in complete games (21), and has a 1.81 ERA with four shutouts, 126 strikeouts, and two saves this year in 162 innings. Elise Wilkinson has come on strong in the last few weeks as another option for the Fox, and Emma Eastman remains an option as a starter in the circle as well for Fox. As a complete pitching staff, the Bruins have an ERA of 2.61 and are holding opposing teams to a .255 batting average.

Fox took three of four games from Pacific Lutheran in the third first NWC series of 2022 and had a good chance to sweep before execution errors gave the Lutes a window to take one from Fox on Morse Field. The Bruins outscored the Lutes, 26-12, in the four-game series and were able to hit 11 of their 68 home runs off of the PLU pitchers. The Lutes do have one of the top sluggers in the conference on their roster, so this won't be a walkover matchup by any means, but the Bruins were able to perform well this year in this matchup as a squad.

Live video and statistics will be available via the Wildcats' sports information staff and will also be linked on the Bruins' website.

For more information about the tournament and to purchase tickets online, click here.