TACOMA, Wash. - The weather nearly prevented the teams from
taking the field but when they did, the Puget Sound Loggers dropped
both ends of a Northwest Conference softball doubleheader to the
George Fox Bruins, 10-2 and 10-8, on Sunday afternoon at Logger
softball field in Tacoma, Wash.
A late morning snow shower put the two squads into a 93 minute
delay before a single pitch was even thrown. The Bruins
struck first in the top of the second on a solo home run by Becca
Doyle and then Doyle added another RBI in the third to go with a
two-RBI single by Erin Lee put the Bruins up by four. Two
more runs came across on a two-run home run by Chelsea Bradely in
the fourth but the Loggers were able to add a few runs in the fifth
when Meghan Watson (Brier, Wash./Mountlake Terrace) singled in
Carolyn Moore (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names) and Victoria Raeburn
(Gladstone, Ore.) singled in Hilary Rice (St. Paul, Minn./St. Paul
Academy).
The Bruins pounded in the final dagger in the top of the sixth
on RBI double by Shelby Briske followed by a three-run home run by
Bradely. Bradely collected the win for George Fox, allowing
just two runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts. Auriel
Sperberg (Spanaway, Wash./Graham-Kapowsin) took the loss for Puget
Sound, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits in six innings pitched.
In game two, the Bruins continued what they started in game one,
putting up six runs in the first frame to take the early
lead. The Loggers were able to get a run across in the bottom
of the inning after Aryn Grause (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley)
singled in Rice. After one more GFU run in the second, the
George Fox bats went quiet. The Loggers climbed back in the
game in the bottom of the fourth as Raeburn, Kelsey Scanlan (La
Center, Wash./Clark College) and Alex Usher (Carson,
Wash./Stevenson) each picked up RBIs to get UPS back within three,
7-4. Two more runs in the fifth got the Loggers back within
one run but three more Bruin runs in the top of the seventh put
them back up by four runs, heading in the bottom of the seventh.
Grause scored on an illegal pitch and then Raeburn scored on an
RBI single by Scanlan but it was too little, too late as GFU
collected the 10-8 win to sweep the twinbill. Andi
Doerflinger (Juneau, Alaska/Juneau-Douglas) took the loss for Puget
Sound, allowing six runs on seven hits in one inning pitched.
Bradely collected both the win and the save for the Bruins after
coming back in with runners on base in the seventh.
The Loggers will hit the road next weekend, traveling to Pacific
for a four-game series with the Boxers in Forest Grove, Ore.
Box Scores: Game
One/Game
Two
