EUGENE, Ore. – The UBC Thunderbirds were lights out on the mound as they defeated the Bushnell Beacons twice on the road to open up their Cascade Collegiate Conference season. First was a 6-0 shutout, before a much closer 2-1 victory to end the day.
Carleen Murray was dealing all afternoon, as the third-year pitcher earned a win in the first game and a save in the second, pitching nine scoreless innings and giving up just two hits between her two appearances.
Casey Lo was the top UBC's batter with three hits, two RBIs, a walk and a run scored in her seven combined plate appearances.
GAME ONE
The T-Birds got on the board with three runs in the third inning, with RBI singles from
Keona Nordquist and
Clare VanSpall before Lo walked with the bases loaded to bring home another score.
Lo brought home another run with a single to right field in the top of the fifth, followed soon after by
Jessica Heutink reaching home on an RBI groundout from pinch hitter
Kennedy Ainge. A Nordquist sacrifice fly in the sixth added the final tally to the T-Birds' side of the scoreboard.
Murray pitched nearly a complete game, going 6.1 innings and striking out six while only allowing three baserunners.
Riley Woodward retired the final two batters in her first appearance of the season.
GAME TWO
All of the runs in the second game happened in the first three innings, the first coming off a Heutink single in the top of the second that brought home Lo. Bushnell's Violet Richardson then tied things up in the bottom half of the inning with a home run to left field.
It wasn't long before UBC retook the lead, however, as VanSpall slapped a double to left-centre in the third that brought home Nordquist, who was the only player on either team to cross home plate twice on the day.
That proved to be all the offence the Thunderbirds needed, as
Shae Sever and Murray combined to shut down the Beacons' bats once again. Sever earned the win with 4.1 innings worth of work where she gave up just three hits and recorded eight strikeouts.
The T-Birds will hope to keep their momentum going as they prepare for another doubleheader on Sunday. The Beacons play host at 11:00 a.m. (PT) and 1:00 p.m. (PT).
