Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Poets surrendered a mere four runs in their sweep of Pomona-Pitzer Saturday afternoon en route to 4-2 and 13-2 victories keeping their winning streak alive at three games.
Whittier improves now to 5-1, 3-1 SCIAC, while Pomona-Pitzer drops to 2-6, 0-4 SCIAC.
Game 1 (W, 4-2)
After an early throwing error in the first inning by the Sagehens that would have ended the inning, the Poets capitalized by plating two giving them an early lead. PP began chipping away at the lead though cutting the lead in half in the bottom of the second behind a double from Lauren Boden but the Poets would gather a run in the 5th and 7th that proved crucial in the two run victory.
In the 5th, the Poets manufactured a run through a SAC bunt and a groundout following an Alyse Gutierrez double and then added an insurance run in the 7th after Mercedez Cundiff put out her second homerun of the season.
The Sagehens managed to put two runners on base, while bringing the winning run to the plate in the bottom half of the 7th but were unable to bring anyone across as Anna Cade shut down the rest of the PP batters securing her first save of the season.
Whittier was led on offense by Mickala Gonzales who finished 2-3 with a run scored, while Cundiff finished 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Courtney DeLano was credited with her third win of the season after going 4.2 innings surrendering a run on seven hits, while striking out three.
Game 2 (W, 13-2)
The second game of the doubleheader remained close throughout with Pomona-Pitzer only trailing by one heading into the 6th, but the Poets responded with an 11 run offensive surge that put the game out of reach.
After two Poet batters walked and singled, Jordan Learn sacrificed them over into scoring position before Emi Shimamoto and Cundiff answered with homers that helped spark the offensive rally. This put Whittier up 13-1 before Caitlyn Hynes would come across for the Sagehen second run after she led off the inning with a double. But PP couldn't surmount a challenge as the game ended on a Susanne Boden flyout.
Both Cundiff and DeLano finished 3-4 combining for seven RBI's, while Jessica Rosnack picked up her second win of the season after going 5.0 innings surrendering a run on four hits to go with four strikeouts.
The Poets return to the diamond when they host Holy Names University, Thursday, February 28 before returning the following day on Friday, March 1 to host the Panthers of Chapman University in a SCIAC matchup.
