Bats go quiet as Whitworth eliminated from NWC tournament

Whitworth’s magical softball season ran out of tricks Saturday as the Northwest Conference regular-season champion Pirates lost to George Fox 3-0 in the league tournament.

The Pirates (31-12) set a school record for wins while taking its first conference crown. But Whitworth must now wait to see if the selection committee will choose it in May for an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III tournament.

“We didn’t hit as well in the tournament as we did all year,” Whitworth coach Cristal Brown said. “But they accomplished so much.”

The Pirates fell 3-2 to No. 4 seed Linfield on Friday at Whitworth’s Diana Marks Field before rallying in extra innings to eliminate Pacific, Oregon, 2-1 and advance to Saturday.

But on Saturday, the Bruins batters found several holes in recording eight hits off of Whitworth starter Makayla Lefever, who gave up three earned runs and took the loss despite seven strikeouts.

The Bruins got things started in the third inning with a Rebecca Pridmore single and an Amanda Woods double. Annie Veatch then doubled to score Pridmore and Woods, and those two runs would be all George Fox (31-12) would need.

In the fourth inning, Whitworth senior Peyton McMahon smashed a double off the outfield fence. Junior outfielder Sacha Clow also doubled in the fifth inning.

But the Pirates couldn’t solve the Bruins’ Abbie Bergerson (19-6), who allowed five hits in seven shutout innings.

Lefever (17-5) threw in all three of Whitworth’s games.

“Lefever did a good job,” Brown said. “George Fox just had a couple key hits and our quiet bats let them have it.”

Linfield beat George Fox 4-3 for the championship.