Bearcats Win Two More in Florida, Beating Lawrence 18-5 and Luther 3-2

Clermont, Florida - Willamette Softball continued its strong play at The Spring Games event in Florida with two more wins, putting up eighteen runs in a victory over Lawrence University and coming from behind to down Luther College.  Faith Collar had four hits over the two games, while Emma Elliott and Mia Lund each added three.

Willamette started strong in the opening game as Maris Pinheiro and Emma Elliott started with singles.  After Collar was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Mia Rogers reached on an error to score the first run and Lauren Stube cleared the bases with a double to make the score 4-0.  

Pinheiro led off the second inning with another single and this time up Elliott tripled to left to drive in Pinheiro and then scored herself on a single by Desirae Hatfield.  Collar followed with a single to score Hatfield and then scored herself on a double-steal later in the inning to put the Bearcats up 8-0 at the end of two innings.

Lawrence picked up two runs in the bottom of the third and three in the fifth to cut the lead down to 11-5 at that point, but Willamette exploded for seven runs in the top of the sixth to put the game out of reach.  Stube hit another double to lead off the sixth and pinch-runner Clara Woolsey scored on a single by Jordan Cresswell.  Maggie Fleischmann, Collar, Mia Rogers, Woolsey, and Elizabeth Durrenberger all had RBI singles in the inning as the final score ended 18-5.

Elizabeth Hillier started the game for Willamette and earned the win, going four innings ad striking out five.  Abigail Loomis pitched the final two innings, giving up only one hit and striking out four, including the final two batters of the game.

The second game saw far less offense from the Bearcats, but they still found a way to win the game over Luther College.  Luther got on the board first in the top of the third inning on a walk, sacrifice bunt, and a double put them up 1-0.  They extended their lead in the fifth, scoring another run to make the score 2-0, but Willamette responded in the bottom of the inning.  The Bearcats put the first two runners on base after Maggie Fleischmann walked and Mia Lund reached on a bunt.  After a groundout for the first out of the inning, Mia Rogers reached base on an error that scored Fleischmann.  After the second out, another Luther error, this time by the right fielder on a ball hit by Collar, led to two more Bearcat runs and gave Willamette a 3-2 lead.  

Starting pitcher Kenna Davis retired the side in order in the top of the sixth and made the final out of the game in the seventh on a nice play fielding a bunt attempt to close out the game for the Bearcats.  Davis pitched a complete game to earn her sixth win, giving up six hits and two runs while striking out seven batters.  After putting up 21 hits in the first game of the day, Willamette's only hits in game two came from Lund, Elliott, and Collar.  

Willamette has a day off before they finish their spring break trip with two games on Thursday, March 27th.  They will face Colby College at 7:15 am, followed by the University of Wisconsin-Platteville at 9:15 am.