PORTLAND | Not much could be said for the Warner Pacific University Softball team's (1-9, 0-5) offensive efforts in their first home conference games played since the 2020 season, as the #1 Oregon Tech Huslin' Owls (17-3, 5-0) stymied the Knights' determination at every turn, punching their ticket to a Friday sweep of WPU, with Warner Pacific losing the doubleheader games 0-14 and 0-9.
 
Game 1
 
The Knights had their hands full from the very first inning, but were able to lock it in defensively to keep the #1 ranked team in the NAIA off the scoreboard for the first two innings. In the first inning the Owls couldn't find anything at the place, drawing a walk and the other three batters resulting in infield outs.
 
Warner Pacific threatened in the bottom of the first inning, putting the first two runners on with no outs. However, Owls' starting pitcher Sarah Abramson (9-2) buckled down to induce three straight outs, ruining the Knights opportunity for early runs on the board.
 
Oregon Tech immediately responded in the second inning, loading the bases on three straight batters to put Knights' sophomore starting pitcher Abby Carlson (1-4) in quite the pickle. But Carlson had other ideas for what would go down in the Owls' top of the second, as she got the next two batters to ground into fielder's choice plays at home plate, then a simple groundout to shortstop to end the inning with three batters left on base.
 
A "three up, three down" bottom of the second inning for Warner Pacific's offense came at the most inopportune time for the Knights, as the Owls finally broke through in the top of the third inning for four runs on five hits, capped off by a three-run homer from Oregon Tech catcher Jayce Seavert.
 
Warner Pacific threatened once again in the bottom of the third inning due to a pair of walks, but back-to-back groundouts got Abramson out of the inning without a scratch.
 
After a taste of what they could accomplish in the top of the third inning, the Owls jumped at that opportunity once again in the fourth, exploding for eight runs on six hits to take a 12-0 lead over the Knights. An error resulted in two runs crossing the plate in unearned fashion, but Carlson left the game in the middle of the innings responsible for two runners on base before senior first baseman Emma Foster came in for relief.
 
The Owls tacked on a pair of runs in their next frame for a 14-0 lead, and effectively shut the door on any comeback attempt the Knights were planning in the dugout.
 
Abramson picked up her ninth win of the season by allowing no runs, two hits, and striking out five Knights' batters in 4.0 innings pitched. Seavert finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, smashing six RBIs and scoring three runs in game one of the doubleheader.
 
Knights' senior centerfielder Paityn Willoughby and sophomore rightfielder Christina Barrett collected the only two hits for the Warner Pacific, while Carlson finished the day allowing 10 earned runs on 12 hits in 3.0 innings pitched.
 
Game 2
 
Game two of today's doubleheader featured a much closer scoring margin for a majority of the contest, as the Owls were not able to score more than a single run in one inning until the final inning of the game.
 
After allowing a run in the top of the first inning on a wild pitch, Knights' junior starting pitcher Carrigan Foster (0-2) brought the opening inning to a close with a groundout to second base, looking for her team to answer back with their own bats in the bottom of the first.
 
However, Oregon Tech's starting pitcher McKenzie Staub (7-0) came to play on the mound in game two, as she didn't allow a hit to the Knights until the bottom of the third inning, when freshman catcher Olivia Hutchins sliced a one-out pitch into the right field gap.
 
The Hustlin' Owls proceeded to score a single run in every inning, while Staub silenced the Knights' bats in each bottom half of the frames she pitched. OIT nabbed three additional runs in the top of the seventh, then relief pitcher Kacie Schmidt came in to relieve Staub for a quick inning of work to end the late afternoon contest.
 
Seavert once again impressed at the plate for the Owls, collecting another two hits in three plate appearances, one of which was smashed over the left field fence in the top of the second inning for her second home run of the afternoon. OIT's catcher McKenna Armantrout added three hits and scored a run for Oregon Tech in five plate appearances.
 
Hutchins finished the afternoon batting .500 at the plate with her third inning hit, while junior leftfielder Savannah Roddey and sophomore shortstop Faith Vadelund each earned a knock offensively in the Knights' efforts.
 
The Knights return to action tomorrow morning for a Saturday matinee finish with the Owls, with game one of the doubleheader beginning at 12pm PDT. Game two, which is a non-conference bout with OIT, is scheduled for 2pm PDT and will begin promptly after the conclusion of game one.