CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Whittier College
softball team collected 14 hits in Game 1 of its Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on
Saturday afternoon as the Poets rolled to an 8-1 win but
Pomona-Pitzer responded in Game 2 with a four-hit, 1-0, shutout to
split the twin bill and even the season series at two.
The Poets (22-14, 9-11 SCIAC) got off to a quick start in the
first game as they scored three runs on four hits which includes
back-to-back doubles that drove in all three runs in the first
inning. The fast start proved to be all Whittier would need as
starting pitcher Nikole Gandara went all seven
innings and allowed only one run.
The purple and gold added a run in the fourth inning to take a
4-0 lead. The first three batters of the inning all reached base
and Mary Pacheco recorded an RBI ground out to
plate Colleen Mundy.
Whittier ended the game with a five-hit, four-run effort in the
top of the seventh. Vicky Ovieda singled off a
bunt that scored Kourtney Zilbert, Amanda
Brown had an RBI double and Kellie Canida
drove in the final two runs of the inning with a two RBI single.
Eight different Poets had at least one hit in Game 1. Canida and
Brenda Thompson led the way with three hits.
In Game 2 Whittier turned to Heather Dady who
went 3.0 innings and allowed one run on nine hits. Amanda
Webster relieved Dady in the fourth inning and went the
final three innings and allowed one hit with two strikeouts.
The Sagehens scored the game's only run in the bottom of the
second inning. Pomona had four consecutive singles that eventually
scored the only run of the contest.
WC only had four hits for the game and never had more than one
hit in an inning.
The Poets currently sit in fifth place in the SCIAC, just
one-game out of the final playoff spot currently held by Cal
Lutheran. WC has games with first-place Redlands and second-place
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps remaining on the schedule. The purple and
gold lost twice to the Bulldogs earlier this year and split with
the Athenas. Cal Lutheran finishes conference play with Redlands
and third-place La Verne.
