KIRKLAND, Wash.| Warner Pacific softball opened up their 2023 campaign on the road on Friday as they took on Northwest University.

Under new leadership with interim Head Coach Ashton Porter at the helm, the revamped Knights (0-2) made the trek up north to take on the Eagles (7-4) to get the season underway.

GAME 1
The Knights struck first in game one, pushing across their only run in the first inning. The action started for the Knights when Sammie Brauckmiller hit a one out double in the opening frame. Freshman Marin Bliss followed up the double by drawing a walk to get some traffic on the basepaths for Warner Pacific.

After Bliss drew the walk, Brauckmiller was cut down trying to steal third. With two outs and one on, Carrigan Foster hit a single to put runners back at first and second.

The Knights then got on the board thanks to a double from Emma Foster which brought home Marin Bliss. The Knights kept up their momentum by drawing a walk to load the bases with two outs. However, Warner couldn't capitalize as they stranded three in the first inning.

The Knights remained in control for the first few innings thanks to the efforts of Carrigan Foster on the mound. Foster, cruised through the first three innings, allowing only one hit and two walks, while striking out four batters.

Northwest was able to get on the board and take the lead over the Knights thanks to some misfortune for Warner Pacific.

The Eagles opened up the frame with a walk and were able to move the runner to second on a sacrifice. The Northwest runner advanced to third on a wild pitch, but the Knights were able to strike out the next batter. With two outs and a runner at third, the Eagles hit back to back singles to tie up the game at 1-1 and put runners on the corners. A walk to the next batter loaded the bases with two outs in the inning.

The Eagles were able to take the lead as their next batter reached on a catcher's interference call and made the game 2-1. Northwest extended their lead to 3-1 with a bases loaded hit-by-pitch to the next batter. The Knights were able to prevent further damage by getting a fly out to center field and leave the runners stranded.

Neither team generated much momentum after that, and Northwest's lead held as the Eagles took game one 3-1.

The Knights had 7 hits in the game, led by Jordyn Rosario who went 3-4. Carrigan Foster was given the loss on the mound, giving up 3 runs off of 4 hits and 5 walks while striking out 5.
 
GAME 2
A fateful 5^th inning helped Northwest to pull away and take game 2 of the day over the Knights.

After the Knights went down in order to start the game, Northwest started the scoring in the bottom of the first. The Eagles got a double to start the frame. The Eagles were able to move the runner to third on a ground ball out to the first baseman and bring the runner home on another groundout to the right side.

With a 1-0 lead and no one on, the Eagles hit a double and then brought the runner in with a follow up RBI single to go ahead 2-0.

The Knights responded with a pair of runs in the top of the 2^nd. Carrigan Foster opened the inning with a single which was matched by another single from Emma Foster. Both the Fosters advanced on a wild pitch to give the Knights two runners in scoring position with no one out.

Marin Bliss hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Carrigan and reduce the deficit to 2-1. Kassidie Bukoski singled which allowed Emma Foster to advance to third. With runners at the corners, Jovita Laloulu hit an RBI single to tie up the game for the Knights at 2-2.

Northwest responded by tacking on another run thanks to a walk and a pair of singles in the bottom of the 2^nd to go up 3-2 on the Knights.

The Knights kept up the back and forth by tying up the game again in the top of the 3^rd. Sammie Brauckmiller hit a single and stole second to open the inning. The Knights then got a pair of singles to load the bases, which allowed Marin Bliss to hit another sacrifice fly to bring the game to 3-3.

The scoring stopped until the bottom of the 4^th when Northwest got an RBI single to take the lead 4-3.

Northwest widened their lead in the bottom of the 5^th with an RBI double to make it 5-3 before runners scored on two separate wild pitches to give them a 7-3 advantage.

The Knights got a run back in the top of the 6^th thanks to four straight singles from Emma Foster, Marin Bliss, Kassidie Bukoski, and Jovita Laloulu to make it 7-4.

The Knights got two runners on in the top of the 7^th, but couldn't bring them home, and the Warner ultimately fell by a score of 7-4.

Warner Pacific outhit Northwest in game two, recording 14 hits as a team compared to 12 from the Eagles. Top performances for the Knights in game two include Emma Foster who went 3-4 and scored twice. Freshman Jovita Laloulu had a strong performance, going 3-3 with 2 RBIs. Marin Bliss also went 1-2 with 2 RBIs thanks to a pair of sacrifice flies.

The loss drops the Knights to 0-2. Warner Pacific will look to get their wins back on Feb. 25 when they take on Northwest in a doubleheader at 11am and 1pm.