March 1, 2008

Lutes Sweep Bruins with Extra-Base Barrage

Game One
Game Two

Vanessa Bryant - two homers, two doubles

NEWBERG, Ore. - Collecting a total of 26 hits, 12 of them for extra bases, Pacific Lutheran swept the George Fox Bruins, 4-1 and 11-1, as the Northwest Conference portion of the softball season got underway for both teams Saturday afternoon at Morse Field.

George Fox (0-8-1, 0-2 NWC) took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning of the first game when Shelby Briske drew a bases-loaded walk, forcing in Amber Philliber. The run was unearned because of a PLU error that kept the inning alive.

The visiting Lutes (4-4, 2-0 NWC) responded in the top of the fourth as Heather Walling singled, went to third on a double by Rachel Wheeler-Hoyt, and both scored on a double by Vanessa Bryant. The Lutes added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth as Bryant doubled, Carly Starke doubled home pinch-runner Crystal Reno, and Starke scored on consecutive singles by Stephanie Mullen and Sheila Reiten.

The Lutes had 12 hits in the game, with Reiten, Walling, Wheeler-Hoyt and Bryant getting two apiece, but stranded nine runners.

Hadley Schmitt (3-2) picked up the win for the Lutes as she went the distance, allowing only four hits and one unearned run while striking out 10 with five walks. Natalie White (0-4) took the loss for the Bruins, surrendering 12 hits and four runs in a route-going performance with two strikeouts and two walks.

The Lutes had eight extra-base hits in the nightcap, including three home runs. In the top of the first, Lisa Gilbert had a RBI double and Mullen a run-scoring single in a three-run rally. The Bruins got their only run in the home half of the inning as Ashley Peterson singled and Ashley Olson drove her home with a double to right.

PLU added one run in the second on a wild pitch, then broke the game open with four in the third, Bryant and Wheeler-Hoyt each contributing two-run home runs, the first of the season for both. Gilbert doubled in a run and Bryant hit a second two-run blast in the fourth, giving the Lutes more than enough to have the game called after five innings by the eight-run rule.

Gilbert, Bryant, Mullen and Wheeler-Hoyt had two hits each in the Lutes’ 14-hit attack. Peterson went 2-for-2 for the Bruins, half the team’s hits.

Wheeler-Hoyt (1-2) picked up her first win, scattering four hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Torey Weatherman (0-4) allowed seven hits, seven runs and two walks in two-plus innings as the Bruins’ starter, while White came on in relief and gave up seven hits and four runs, fanning three, in three innings.

Both teams return to Northwest Conference action at noon Saturday, the Lutes playing at Lewis & Clark and George Fox hosting Puget Sound.

(Courtesy of George Fox Sports Information Office)