PORTLAND, ORE. – After 347 days and….20 minutes, due to a weather delay, the Warner Pacific University Softball Team took the diamond against NCAA Division III George Fox University. "It was great to finally get back out on the field as a team after so long off. It felt like a small piece of the world was right again" Knights head coach Nathan Ohta said. The Knights ended up splitting the day with the Bruins, heading back to Portland 1-1 on the day.
 
Duty called and the Knights were right back at it Sunday morning, this time with another rain delay but rest assured, rain or shine, Warner Pac Softball will play hard. The team traveled to McMinnville, Oregon to face NCAA Division III opponent and No. 6 Linfield University where they came away with a 1-1 split against a very good Wildcat team. "I was proud of how the team played this weekend. They made some very good adjustments from day one to day two, and picked up a couple of quality wins over two very good teams" Ohta noted. The Knights are now 2-2 for the year.
 
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The Rundown
On Saturday, the floodgates may have closed, but such wasn't the case for the Knights on the plate. After three slow innings and giving up two early runs to the Bruins, the Knights began to rain in runs, scoring at least one run in the following five innings, starting with the RBI's of Concordia-Portland transfer Paityn Willoughby while Payton Hergert put the exclamation point on the night crushing a ball far beyond the fence. After putting on a hitting clinic, the Knights eventually defeated the Bruins 7-3. In Game 2 of the series, it seemed the aluminum of the bats had cooled off the Knights' heat streak and the Bruins walked out with a 9-1 victory.
 
On Sunday, despite a rain delay and crisp 40-degree weather, Warner Pacific came out hot, scoring three runs in the first inning and taking a quick lead, leaving Linfield having to play catch up for the remainder of the match. The Wildcats came creeping at the door throughout the following two innings before the Knights went ahead and buried the lead, scoring one, two and two runs each of the last three innings, respectively. The Wildcats, clawing their way back with three runs in the 7^th, had the Knights on their toes but the Knights defense took a timeout, composed themselves and closed it out, leaving two on base. The closing game of the weekend was a much more evenly competitive match, each team playing tough defense, not allowing much contact to be made on the ball, with Warner Pac making contact three times and the Wildcats five. Linfield took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning before Hergert would make it known the Knights wouldn't go down that easy. The junior out of Pendleton, Oregon, for the second day in a row, sent a ball soaring past the boundaries at the top of the fourth. Linfield, responding, managed to get a run in the bottom of the fourth, ultimately claiming the victory for the home team.
 
Deeper Look
Payton Hergert (Pendleton, Ore.) hit for .462 with six hits, two home runs and two RBI's for a 1.000 slugging percentage
Jamie Carlson (Mossyrock, Wash.) hit a .333 with four hits and three RBI's
Melia Croydon (Milwuakie, Ore.)  went 2-0 on the weekend with 11 strikeouts
 
 
Flash Forward
The Knights will be back in action against yet another NCAA Division III opponent in the Pacific University Boxers on Saturday, February 27^th at 12 and 2pm.