Caldwell, Idaho | On a frigid and windy Saturday afternoon, the Warner Pacific University Softball team (1-7, 0-3) finished their trip to The Potato State by dropping the last two games of their series against the #2 College of Idaho Yotes (14-2, 3-0), losing the conference matchup in game one 1-9, and the non-conference contest in game two by a final of 4-7.
 
Game 1
 
The first game in today's doubleheader started eerily similar to both contests from yesterday at Symms Field, with the Yotes striking first in the bottom of the first inning. However, the Knights were able to at least match their hit total in their first frame of offense, as senior centerfielder Paityn Willoughby smashed a one-out single into the right-centerfield gap.
 
Knights' sophomore starting pitcher Abby Carlson (1-3) had her stuff working early for Warner Pacific, inducing a groundout to second base to start the game, followed by striking out the second batter to be on her way to a clean bottom of the first inning. However, an error allowed Yotes' third baseman Kaily Christensen, who then scored on the next at-bat thanks to a deep triple from first baseman Tanner Higgins.
 
The Yotes continued to pile it on over the next three innings, leading 9-0 over the Knights heading into the top of the fifth inning. The Warner Pac were able to earn a run back off the bat of sophomore pinch hitter Morgan Docker to score sophomore left fielder/relief pitcher Sammie Brauckmiller to make it 1-9, but it was unfortunately still within the run-rule when catcher Docker was tagged out on a double-play the next at bat, resulting in the Yotes' victory.
 
Carlson finished the afternoon with three earned runs off five hits and a walk over 3.0 innings pithced, while striking out one Coyote. S. Brauckmiller allowed five runs with five hits and a walk in 1.0 innings of relief to help Carlson close out the fourth inning.
 
Willoughby finished a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate, while S. Brauckmiller collected a hit and scored the Knights first run in Idaho this weekend.
 
Yotes' starting pitcher Annie Polster (3-0) collected her third win of the season to keep her record perfect, allowing one run, five hits, and a walk over a complete 5.0 innings pitched, while striking out three Knights along the way. Higgins continued to dominate at the plate for C of I, tallying four RBIs on two hits, and scoring a run herself as well.
 
Game 2
 
After getting run-ruled in the first three games of the weekend series, Warner Pacific needed to find a way to slow down the Yotes' offense enough to keep themselves in the final game of this head-to-head conference matchup, which is a non-conference matchup that only counts towards the final regular season record for each team, but not a Cascade Collegiate Conference contest.
 
That unfortunately didn't happen to begin the game, as Knights' starting pitcher Carrigan Foster (0-1) started in her first game of the season to a rocky opening inning of work, where the Yotes popped off for a four-run inning. However, all four of the runs scored were unearned due to errors from Knights' defense.
 
However, the three-runs that the Yotes would go on to score in the second inning were all earned runs on C. Foster's ERA, resulting in a 7-0 lead for The College of Idaho, with Warner Pacific needing to find some offense if they had any hopes of completing the full 7.0 innings of non-conference game play.
 
WPU responded in the third inning with their second run of the weekend, as first baseman Emma Foster singled to the shortstop Hannah Mikel, who didn't allow the baserunner at second base to move in exchange for Willoughby to score, while E. Foster beat out the throw to first base.
 
C. Foster settled in to allow no more runs for the remainder of the afternoon, which gave the Knights an opportunity to fight back into this contest, as she only allowed one hit from the Yotes between the third and seventh innings.
 
Needing six runs in the top of the seventh inning to extend the game, the Knights struck again on an RBI single off the bat of second third baseman Payton Hergert, scoring junior rightfielder Maggie Brauckmiller. Two batters later, E. Foster found gold again on a two RBI double down the left field line, as Hergert and Willoughby came across home plate to make it a 4-7 game.
 
With the bases loaded and only one out, the Knights just needed a little more momentum to tie this ballgame up. Unfortunately, the Knights next two batters hit into popup outs end the game, sending to Knights home with an 0-4 start to start the regular season play.
 
Willoughby finished with another solid game at the plate, collecting three hits in four at-bats, along with scoring two runs for the Knights. E. Foster swung the heavy bat in game two for Warner Pacific, registering two hits and three RBIs to lead all players in Runs Batted In.
 
Yotes' starting pitcher Ambrie Jones (2-0) hung on for the win against the Knights, allowing four runs and nine hits in 6.1 innings of work. Relief pitcher Katelyn Wilfert (1) came into the game with one out in the top of the seventh inning, inducing the two outs needed to collect the save for C of I.
 
Mikel ended the afternoon with a redemption game of three hits, an RBI, and two runs in four at-bats. Yotes' rightfielder Makenna Luke added a hit, a run, and an RBI in her first start on Saturday.
 
Warner Pacific Softball returns home to Portland to host a conference series for the first time in nearly two years, as the Covid-19 pandemic shortened the 2020 season, and the Knights played the entirety of the 2021 season on the road. They will have their work cut out for them in their homecoming, as they host the #1 Oregon Tech Owls, last year's NAIA National Runner-Ups, at Erv Lind Stadium beginning Friday, March 5^th, with the conference doubleheader games beginning at 1pm and 3pm PDT.