A walk off win, and a 12 inning affair and that was only the first day of the NWC tournament.
Four teams would converge on Forest Grove, OR on an absolutely beautiful weekend for baseball.
The first day would set a tone for the level of competitiveness that would be seen all weekend long. The host team and #1 seed Pacific would need some last at bat heroics by Jordan Hara to walk off Whitworth.
If a walk off wasn’t exciting enough on day 1, Willamette and Pacific Lutheran would play one for the history books. They would take a 1-1 game into extra innings where Willamette would score to take the lead in the top of the 10th, only to have Pacific Lutheran come right back and tie the game up in the bottom of the 10th.
Willamette would be able to break through with 4 in the top of the 12th that Pacific Lutheran wouldn’t be able to get back.
Saturday would see Whitworth getting eliminated by Pacific Lutheran, and Pacific defeating Willamette, setting up a rematch with PLU and Willamette in a loser out game. Like in the first matchup a big inning by Willamette would be the difference, as Willamette would advance to the championship, needing to beat Pacific twice to claim the title.
The first championship game would be a tight one with neither team allowing the other to run away with the game. Willamette relief pitcher Brady Joyner would come in and pitch 5.2 innings for the Bearcats, only allowing 2 hits and 1 earned run to get the win and get his team one game away from a championship.
Game 2 would be a different story as Pacific would come out hot with the bats scoring 5 runs in the 1st and 2nd innings, and would go on to win the game 15-6, completing the regular season and the NWC tournament sweep. Tanner Johnson would have a big game in the championship for Pacific going 3-5 with 4 RBIs and 2 runs.
Congratulations to the Pacific University Boxers on their championship and I look forward to the 2022 season.