TACOMA, Washington – Savanna Smith had a birthday that she will never forget. The Puget Sound senior hit the game-winning home run and earned the win in the circle as the Logger softball team stunned Whitworth, 8-6, Sunday afternoon.
 
Puget Sound beat Whitworth twice in one weekend for the first time since 2010.
 
Aided by an error, the Pirates jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Loggers were unphased. Jazzy Allen delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the first, cutting Whitworth's lead in half.
 
The Pirates tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning, but once the Loggers had an answer – and then some.
 
Kendall Gantz led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single, and wild pitch put a runner in scoring position. After Hope Fleischman was hit by a pitch, Hailee Ueyama belted a two-run double.
 
The Loggers immediately added two more runs when Emily Moore smacked her second home run of the season – tying the game, 6-6.
 
The score remained tied with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but that's when Smith hit her birthday bomb – a solo shot to give Puget Sound a 7-6 lead. Allen kept the inning going with a single, and she eventually came around to score on an error.
 
Smith finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate, she worked all seven innings in the circle – yielding just three earned runs while striking out six.
 
Moore, Allen, and Gantz finished the game with two hits, each.
 
Puget Sound lost the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, 10-0 (5 inn.).
 
The Loggers are on the road next week for a series at George Fox (March 25-26).