Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LA VERNE, Calif. – A SCIAC doubleheader took place Saturday afternoon at Wheeler Park and ended in a split between La Verne and Whittier.
Whittier now improves to 11-5, 5-5 SCIAC, while La Verne improves to 13-7, 7-7 SCIAC.
The Leopards overcame a 5-0 deficit in the opener to rally past the Poets 6-5 with the Poets rallying from down 3-0 to earn a 5-3 victory in the second game.
Game 1 (L, 6-5)
The Poets continue to swing hot bats after splitting with Redlands last weekend. Whittier jumped out to a 5-0 lead midway through the 3rd thanks in large part to a grand slam from Mercedez Cundiff that capped off a big inning that consisted of two hits, one of which was a leadoff double from Alexandra Flores.
La Verne added their first run of the game in the bottom half of the 3rd thanks to a solo shot from Katherine Kibbe before they brought around three in the bottom half of the 4th thanks to a Daniella Vela double that brought around two.
Trailing by one 5-4 in the 6th the Leopards responded with a two run shot from Raven Feret that proved to be the game winner coming off of Anna Cade who picked up her first loss of the season.
Courtney DeLano started off the game for the Purple & Gold and received the no decision after she went 3.2 innings giving up one earned run on eight hits.
Along with Cundiff who finished 1-3 with the grand slam was joined by Mickala Gonzales and Flores who each finished 2-3 and 2-5, each respectively.
Game 2 (W, 5-3)
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Poets found themselves trailing 3-0 after three innings of play before they started their comeback in the 4th. The Poets responded adding two runs in the 4th and 5th. In the fourth, Gonzales found the gap for a double driving in Samantha Mellano before Jordan Learn singled to left plating Gonzales.
In the 5th, Mellano drove a single up the middle that brought home Flores before Cundiff singled through the left side in the ensuing at bat that brought home Cindy Loza. This put Whittier in front 4-3 before they plated an insurance run in the 6th after a Leopard error brought home Alyse Gutierrez.
Flores and Mellano each finished 2-4 at the plate, each scoring a run, while senior Jessica Rosnack went the distance giving up three runs on five hits, while striking out three picking up her fourth win of the season.
Whittier returns to action on Saturday, March 23 when they travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif. to take on the Regals of Cal Lutheran University with games slated to start at 12:00pm and 2:00pm.
