CLERMONT, Fla. – The Western Oregon softball team suffered two losses on the second day of the PFX Athletics Tournament, falling 5-1 to No. 12 Saint Anselm before Davenport delivered a walk-off home run in their 4-3 win over the Wolves.
Western Oregon (9-7) was held to only two hits against the Saint Anselm Hawks who moved to 9-0 with the win. Western took a brief early lead, scoring their only run in the bottom of the first inning.
Ayanna Arceneaux homered to right-center, her first of the season, to make it a 1-0 Wolves lead after an inning of play. Shortstop
Sydney Bowers singled up the middle in the fourth for the only other WOU hit of the game.
The Hawks totaled 10 hits as a team, getting multi-hit performances from Shannon Colson, Bre Klaiber and Kylie Fitzpatrick. Klaiber was 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs, two RBI and a walk to lead their offense. On the mound, Perry Morgan (5-0) threw the complete game, giving up one run on two hits, striking out 10 and walking three. The 10 strikeouts was the most the Wolves have suffered at the plate yet this season in a single game.
Game two provided a much closer contest as the Wolves and Davenport Panthers traded punches until DU emerged victorious with a 4-3 win.
Davenport scored two in the bottom of the first to break open the scoring. Rachel Griffin hit a two-run home run to left-center to make it 2-0 Panthers.
Western Oregon bounced back with a run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to go up 3-2.
Tyler Creach doubled to left-center to score
Sadie Chipley who singled to lead off the third. In the fourth,
Sydney Bowers doubled in
Kiley Lynn to tie the game.
Logan Carlos homered to lead off the fifth, breaking a 2-2 tie and giving the Wolves their first lead of the game.
That 3-2 advantage held into the bottom of the seventh inning, putting WOU three outs from the win to split the day. The first two Panthers were then retired, pulling Western within an out of the win with the bases empty. Selene Pauley singled to center to keep the game alive and put the tying run on base. She was immediately followed by the walk-off home run of Alexa Flores, delivering a blast to right-center to give Davenport the win.
Creach and Lynn each finished the game with three hits for WOU. Creach was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI while Lynn was 3-for-3 with a run scored. The paired accounted for six of the nine Western hits.
Reilly Tidwell (3-3) held Davenport to just five hits in 6.2 innings of work, giving up four runs, striking out three and walking two along the way.
Next up, Western Oregon closes out their time at the PFX Athletics Tournament on Sunday, March 1. They take on Wilmington University at 7:15 a.m. PST with an anticipated 9:30 a.m. start against Adelphi University to follow.
