Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific Softball team continued a perfect homestand, opening up the home portion of the conference schedule with a doubleheader sweep over Loyola Marymount on Saturday at Bill Simoni Field. In the first game of the day, Pacific took down LMU 3-2 before returning in the back end of the doubleheader with a 2-1 win.  Pacific sits at 13-32 overall and 2-6 in the West Coast Conference after the pair of one-run triumphs on a beautiful afternoon on the Pacific campus. Freshman Molly Bourne had a stellar day, going 4-6 with four hits, two doubles, three RBI and an outfield assist that preserved the tie score in the top of the seventh inning of the second game, setting up the eventual walk off single from the left fielder from Whittier, Calif.

Game One

In the opener of the weekend series, the Tigers sent senior Dani Bonnet (6-16) to the circle opposing Rachael Farrington (16-13) of the Lions. Loyola Marymount threatened immediately, loading the bases in the top of the first inning. The Lions left the bases stranded in the frame as Bonnet recorded a pair of strikeouts in the inning, including a swinging strikeout of Caitlin Harman to end the threat.

In the bottom of the third, Pacific received back-to-back one out singles from junior Sara Anderson and freshman Molly Bourne, but the Tigers were unable to knock in a run.

Stephanie Crist led off the top of the fourth with a home run to left field, putting the Lions up 1-0 with the first run of the ballgame. Bonnet gave up a one-out double from Harman in the inning, but responded with two infield outs to limit the damage to just the solo home run. LMU added an insurance run in the top of the fifth after Meghan Von Behren doubled to open up the inning and Stephanie Maciel reached on a one-out infield single, plating the second run for a 2-0 Lions advantage.

Junior Melanie Habib was hit by a pitch to begin the bottom of the fifth and sophomore Toni Santos reached on an error during a sacrifice bunt attempt. After Anderson's successful sacrifice, Bourne doubled over the head of the center fielder, bringing home Habib and Santos to tie the score at 2-2. With two down, Cassidy Gustafson popped up a Farrington pitch to first base where the ball popped out of Alex Finie's glove. Bourne, running on the pitch, astutely took home to give Pacific the 3-2 advantage.

The 3-2 scoreline would hold as final in game one as Bonnet shut down the Lions in the sixth and seventh, surrendering just a Harman single in the sixth the rest of the way. Bonnet finished with two strikeouts, surrendering jus five hits while walking two.

For the Tigers, Bourne picked up her 14th multi-hit game and her 9th multi-RBI game of the season. Anderson, freshman Sydney Lahners, senior Alex Steinmehl and Habib all picked up singles.


Game Two

In game two of the doubleheader, Pacific's Marissa Young (5-4) went to the circle facing off with LMU's Crist (4-10). Young was perfect through the first three innings, setting down the LMU lineup in order in their first trip to the plate while Pacific added a run on a Nicole Zapotoczny infield single in the bottom of the first.

Young pitched brilliantly all day, surrendering her first hit of the ballgame in the fourth inning, as Maciel singled to right field with one down in the inning. She worked out of jams in the fifth and sixth innings, ending the latter frame with a 1-2-3 double play.

Crist largely matched Young, stranding Pacific runners in the fourth and fifth innings before tossing a perfect inning in the sixth.

Young got out of her most perilous situation in the top of the seventh. Sabrina Tebou singled down the left field line to begin the inning and after a sacrifice bunt, Von Behren hit a nearly identical shot down the line in left.

Molly Bourne cut the ball off in left and fired a perfect strike to freshman Rachel Sellers, throwing Tebou out at home. Sellers then fired to third where Cassidy Gustafson chased down and tagged out Von Behren, who was attempting to take third base. The play ended the inning, sending Young and The Tigers to the bottom of the inning unscathed and energized after a flawless escape act.

In the bottom of the inning, Habib singled up the middle with one down and Santos reached on a drag bunt single down the first base line. On the play, Habib wisely took an uncovered third base and Pacific had the winning run on third base with one out.

The next hitter, Sara Anderson, was walked intentionally setting the stage for Bourne yet again. Bourne tagged a first-pitch offering from Crist to center field, sealing her 15th multi-hit output of the season while allowing Habib to score easily from third and send Pacific to a walk-off victory and the first three-game winning streak of the season.

Young finished with three strikeouts, allowing just six hits and two walks in her second-straight complete game effort. 

Pacific will return to action tomorrow at 12:00 pm as the three-game series with Loyola Marymount concludes. Live video and Live stats links for the contest will be avaliable via PacificTigers.com

For the latest on the Pacific Softball program, be sure to follow @PacificSoftball on Twitter and Instagram.