PORTLAND, Ore. - A pair of outstanding performances by the Puget
Sound Logger pitching staff helped the Loggers earn their first
wins of the season, sweeping the Lewis & Clark Pioneers in a
Northwest Conference softball doubleheader, 8-6 and 6-3, on
Saturday in Portland, Ore.
The Loggers got to business right away in the first inning of
the first game as sophomore Megan Janes (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe)
hit a home run and the Loggers scored two more as Puget Sound held
a 3-0 lead after one-half inning.
Puget Sound add three more runs in the top of the fourth, taking
advantage of a pair of L&C errors as the Loggers pushed their
lead to 6-0. Lewis & Clark added two runs in the bottom
of the fourth but the Loggers answered back as freshman Brianna
Huber (Chico, Calif.) hit a home run in the top of the fifth to
push the lead back to 7-2.
L&C managed runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth, with
the Loggers sandwiched in between in the top of the sixth.
The Pios tried to post a comeback in the bottom of the
seventh but the Loggers shut to door to pick up their first win of
the year, 8-6. Junior Auriel Sperberg (Spanaway,
Wash./Graham-Kapowsin) struck out eight in five and one-third
innings to collect the win.
In the second game, the Pios struck first with a lone run in the
bottom of the first and the Loggers weren't able to answer back
until the top of the third when they used back-to-back RBI singles
from Aryn Grause (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley) and Huber to
take a 2-1 lead. L&C tied it up with a solo run in the
bottom of the third and then took the lead again on a home run in
the bottom of the fifth but the Loggers used a RBI ground-out from
Carolyn Moore (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names) to score Erika Hayes
(Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway) and tie the game at 3-3.
With the game tied heading into the top of the seventh, junior
Alex Usher (Carson, Wash./Stevenson) ended the possibility of extra
innings with a three-run home run and then Grause finished off the
L&C hitters in the bottom of the frame to collect the 6-3 win.
Grause earned her first win of the year, striking out nine
L&C batters and walking just one.
The Loggers head down to Newberg, Ore. on Saturday as they will
take on George Fox in a pair of NWC games.
