NEWBERG, Ore. -- After giving up five runs in the first inning, the George Fox softball team locked down, refusing to concede another in two big wins over the Puget Sound Loggers, 7-5 and 13-0.
Game One
The Loggers exploded off of the bat, recording four hits, including a three-run homer to jump out to a 5-0 lead before anyone could blink. Bruin coach
Jessica Hollen opted to put in pitcher
Kami Gibson for the remainder of the game, a decision that proved to be fruitful. Gibson would only allow one hit for the remainder of the game.
Offensively, the Bruins quickly responded with three runs of their own in a long first inning — all coming in the first three at-bats. After
Kamryn Potter walked, the Bruins drove her home with back-to-back homers from
Sharon Tomei and
Sydney Sandifer. Though the Bruins stranded three runners in the first, they later tied the game with one run apiece in the next innings off RBI singles from both Tomei and Sandifer.
Gibson continued to deal on the mound, striking out seven of her first nine batters as the game slowed to a halt with the score knotted at five. Neither team put more than one runner on base for three and a half innings before Fox broke through in the sixth.
With the bases loaded,
Reagan Medina put Fox in front with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. The Bruins expanded their lead to 7-5 on an
Aliya Harmon RBI single, nearly making the score 8-5 as
Madelyn Loughary was thrown out at home. Still up by two, though, Gibson made quick work of her opponents, retiring the side to win game one.
Game Two
The Bruin offense outdid their game one performance, but waited until a massive third inning to get on the board. Fox recorded eight of their 14 hits in the third, batting around the order twice, scoring 11 runs in the third to blow the game open. Medina and Harmon each recorded two hits in the inning, with the Bruins scoring in a myriad of ways — getting in on walks, hits, and wild pitches.
The 11 runs quickly put the game out of reach for the struggling Logger bats. Once again, UPS picked up two quick hits, this time on
Ashley Davis, before falling silent. In the two games, the Bruins held the Loggers to just one hit outside of the first inning.
Fox picked up two additional runs in the fourth inning on RBI groundouts from Potter and Tomei, recording another four hits and extending the lead to 13-0.
Emma Eastman came into the game to finish out the game on the mound for Davis, retiring her first three batters to win the game in five innings, 13-0.
Top Performances
Kamryn Potter scored five runs on the day for the Bruins, while
Sharon Tomei led the team with five hits — in total, Fox recorded 25 hits in the two games.
Aliya Harmon finished Sunday with four RBI, while Gibson and Davis combined for seven strikeouts.
Coach's Thoughts
It was nice to see us fight back after a tough first inning," Bruin coach
Jessica Hollen said, "It's not always easy to turn around after a tough game and win game two, glad we could do that today."
What It Means
Fox has won seven straight and nine of their last 10, improving to 11-9 (4-4 NWC) on the year, while Puget Sound drops to 7-11 (2-4 NWC).
What Comes Next
With the Bruins' first doubleheader postponed from Saturday due to rain, Fox will be right back at Morse on Monday to finish out their weekend series against Puget Sound. Game one is scheduled to begin at noon.
