TACOMA, Wash.—Seniors
McKenna Zehnder and
Cami Restagno each hit solo home runs, but top-seeded Pacific Lutheran University earned a comeback 3-2 victory over #3 Lewis & Clark College softball on Day Two of the 2026 Northwest Conference Tournament.
THE BASICS
#1 Pacific Lutheran 3, #3 Lewis & Clark 2
(Lewis & Clark 27-16)
(Pacific Lutheran 34-9)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The River Otters jumped out to leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but a Zoe Smithson two-run homer in the fifth inning gave the hosts the lead for good and ultimately ended Lewis & Clark's season.
The contest marked the final collegiate games for the River Otters 11 seniors:
Emily Patton,
Charlize Pope,
Maggie O'Leary, Zehnder,
Gina Ozuna, Restagno,
Tallulah Sickels,
Lacey Marglin,
Lola Jarrette,
Madison Scroggins and
Megan Yanagi. The River Otters senior class led the program to three-straight NWC Tournament appearances and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance (2025).
Zehnder and Restagno combined to record all four hits for Lewis & Clark. The pair each went 2-3 with a run, an RBI and a solo homer. Ozuna reached three times with a pair of hit by pitches and a walk in four trips to the plate. Scroggins (two) and first year
Kodie Ancheta also reached base on walks.
In the circle, O'Leary kept Lewis & Clark in the game the whole way against the #21 team in the nation. The senior ace worked six innings and allowed nine hits, three walks and three runs. She tacked on six strikeouts to finish her senior campaign with a career-high 122 punchouts.
The River Otters had one of their best chances to score in the top of the first. Ozuna and Ancheta worked back-to-back walks but Lutes starter Maiya Anderson settled in and registered a groundout and two fly outs to keep the score 0-0.
Lewis & Clark grabbed the lead in the top of the second. Zehnder smashed a home run to straightaway center field for her second homer to the same spot in as many days.
O'Leary struck out the side in the first and after two batters reached with two down in the second, she added her fourth strikeout of the game.
The hosts tied the game in the bottom of the third when Kamalani Doctor came through with a two-out RBI single. Smithson followed with a single to load the bases but Lex Ahlo-Garcia was retired on a groundout to short to keep the score tied.
Restagno immediately responded for Lewis & Clark. The senior crushed a homer to left field with one down in the top of the fourth to make it 2-1. Zehnder followed with a double and Scroggins walked to put two on with two outs. Pacific Lutheran went to the bullpen and their ace Paige Wilson induced a flyout to right to end the jam.
The hosts grabbed the lead for good in the fifth. With one out, Doctor doubled to the wall in left and Smithson just cleared the wall in center for a two-run homer. O'Leary would give up one more hit in the inning but would bear down and strike out the next two batters to keep the score 3-2.
Lewis & Clark put a runner on in the sixth and seventh innings but couldn't come through with an extra-base hit against Wilson. The Lutes ace induced a double play ball to end the game in the seventh and send PLU to Sunday's NWC Championship Series.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Lewis & Clark finishes the season third in program history with their 27 wins (27-16). The River Otters set the single-season record for shutouts (nine) and posted the second-most strikeouts (186) and third-best ERA (3.19) in a single-season in program history.
- Ozuna played in her 150th career game on Saturday. She is the ninth player in program history to reach the mark and the third player on this year's team: Patton (169) and Scroggins (157).
- The senior class closes out their career with a 106-64 record across their four seasons. They earned at least one win in the NWC Tournament in all three of their seasons and posted a 5-6 mark in the NWC Tournament and 1-2 record in the NCAA Tournament.
- Restagno and Zehnder each hit their career-high third home runs of the season on Saturday. The duo combined to hit three of the River Otters four home runs this weekend and drove in a combined four runs.
- Saturday's game marked the team's 12th contest against a nationally-ranked team. Lewis & Clark finished the year 2-10 in those contests with three one-run losses.
WHAT'S NEXT
The River Otters anticipate bringing back 16 players from this year's roster for the 2027 season.
