April 10, 2008

SOFTBALL: Lutes Battle Two of NWC’s Best at Home This Weekend

COMING UP: Pacific Lutheran (12-16 overall, 9-7 NWC) hosts Linfield (26-2 overall, 15-1 NWC) at noon on Saturday and hosts Willamette (16-4 overall, 10-2 NWC) at noon on Sunday in Northwest Conference doubleheaders.

TOUGH FOES IN TOWN: Pacific Lutheran will face the cream of the Northwest Conference crop this weekend when Linfield and Willamette come to the Parkland campus for a pair of Northwest Conference doubleheaders. The race for the conference title has turned into a three-team affair with Linfield (15-1), Pacific (12-2) and Willamette (10-2) all in the hunt.

ABOUT LINFIELD: Linfield, the four-time defending conference champions and the reigning NCAA Division III title holders, brings its NWC-leading 15-1 record on Saturday. The Wildcats’ only conference loss came back on March 15 when the Lutes won the second game of a doubleheader in McMinnville by a 2-1 score. In fact, the first game was also a nail-biter as the Lutes pushed the Wildcats to the limit before the hosts pulled out a 5-4 victory. The Wildcats are a powerful senior-dominated team that averages nearly nine runs per game. Jenny Marshall leads the team with a .495 average, in runs scored with 43, and is tied for the lead in stolen bases with 15. Amanda Attleberger is hitting .439 with six homers, while Stephanie Rice has a .413 average and 15 steals. Meredith Brunette is hitting .396 with 11 doubles, five homers, a gaudy .813 slugging percentage, and a team-high 40 RBI, and Erica Hancock also provides power with four homers while hitting .359. The pitching department is well-armed with Brittany Miller maintaining a 10-1 record and a 1.10 earned run average. Opponents are hitting just .122 against her, and she has fanned 98 batters in 76 1/3 innings. Kendra Strahm has an 11-1 record, a 2.25 earned run average and she averages nearly one strikeout per her 68 1/3 innings pitched. Defensively, the Wildcats have committed only 12 errors all season and have an impressive .983 fielding percentage.

ABOUT WILLAMETTE: The Bearcats play a doubleheader at Puget Sound on Saturday before meeting the Lutes on Sunday. Nikki Franchi is making a strong statement for NWC Player of the Year honors as she comes into this weekend’s play with a .583 batting average, six homers, 31 RBI and a 1.083 slugging percentage. Oh, by the way, she also has an impressive 10-2 record and 1.10 earned run average. She has fanned 115 batters in just 76 2/3 innings and opponents are hitting just .154 against her. Other top offensive players include Katie Peterson with a .444 average and four homers, Elizabeth Gilgan with a .438 average, three homers and 17 steals, and Marissa Richards with a .368 average and seven homers.

ROAD WARRIORS NO MORE: The Lutes played 24 of their first 28 games on the road, but they will close the season with 10 games at home and only two away, those on April 26 at Puget Sound.

ABOUT THE LUTES: PLU has hit a bump in the road in recent weeks, having won only two of its last 12 games. Last weekend, the Lutes dropped the first three games of their conference series at Pacific before storming back to take a 7-1 win in the final game. They hope to maintain that momentum this weekend against two of the best teams in the conference, if not the two best. The Lutes are hitting .295 as a team, but eight of the nine regulars in the lineup are hitting at least .296. Caitlin Brown carries the top average at .352, followed by Rachel Wheeler-Hoyt at .338, Stephanie Mullen at .324, Heather Walling at .322 and Vanessa Bryant at .321. PLU’s power numbers are down from recent years, however, as the players have combined for just nine home runs and a .400 slugging percentage. Bryant leads the team with three homers, while Wheeler-Hoyt tops the squad with nine doubles and 15 runs batted in. Wheeler-Hoyt picked up the win when the Lutes beat Linfield the first time around and she has a 7-5 record and 3.86 earned run average. Hadley Schmitt has struggled in recent weeks and hopes to turn things around this weekend. She is 5-11 with a 3.43 earned run average for the season.

PACIFIC SERIES SUMMARY: The host Pacific Boxers opened the four-game series with three consecutive impressive wins, 9-0, 6-2 and 11-3, before the Lutes said enough was enough. While Wheeler-Hoyt limited the high-powered Pacific attack to one run on seven hits, PLU got things untracked on offense with nine hits. Wheeler-Hoyt, Vanessa Bryant and Carly Starke all had a pair of hits, and Starke had the big one, a grand slam homer in the sixth inning.

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