Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – Senior Alyse Gutierrez (West Covina, Calif.) put on a show both offensively and defensively Saturday as she helped lift the Whittier College softball team to a sweep of the University of Redlands at Palmer Field.

Gutierrez finished the day going 6-for-6, a perfect 1.000 batting average, with four of the hits being homeruns, while combining for four runs scored and ten runs batted in, both career highs.

The sweep moves the Poets to 8-3, 4-0 SCIAC and are now in sole possession of first place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Standings (SCIAC).  

This also marks the first time in the program's history that the Poets have swept the Bulldogs in a doubleheader during the regular season.

Game 1 (W, 5-1)

Redlands got on the scoreboard in the first inning behind a two out double from Vicki King but that would be the last run scored for UR as Samantha Blum (San Jose, Calif.) went lights out from that point on throwing a complete game surrendering just a run on 10 hits, while stranding nine runners en route to picking up her fourth win on the season. 

Gutierrez tied things up in the bottom half of the fifth with a solo shot to center and would follow that in the sixth with a three run homer that scored Ashlyn Canchola (La Verne, Calif.) and Marialena Ahern (Fremont, Calif.) that moved the score to 5-1. 

Redlands threatened in the top half of the seventh bringing the tying run to the plate with just one out, but King would ground into the 6-2-5 double play that ended the comeback.

Gutierrez finished the game 3-for-3 with two runs scored and four runs batted in, while Canchola was 2-3 with a run scored and an RBI.    

Game 2 (W, 12-1)

The Poets kept their offense going in the second game of the doubleheader adding 12 runs on 11 hits in just five innings of work.  They added three runs in the second, four in the third, and five in the fourth en route to the lopsided game two victory.

Redlands for the second straight game struck first with an unearned run coming in following a Lali Garza groundout to second.  But again the Poet pitching staff stood strong with sophomore Rachel Alhanati (Lake Forest, Calif.) throwing a complete game giving up just seven hits en route to her fourth win on the season.

Whittier combined for four homeruns in the second game with another two coming from Gutierrez.  Ahern and Gutierrez went back to back in the second inning and Mellano added a solo shot in the third, which sparked a rally including an Ahern double to left center and a Gutierrez single to left that opened the game up 7-1.

But Whittier wasn't done there as they added another five runs in the fourth thanks to a Canchola single to left and another three run bomb from Gutierrez that sealed the fate of the Bulldogs.     

Ahern finished the game 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI's.  Gutierrez was 3-3 as well finishing with two runs scored and six runs batted in and Mercedez Cundiff (Rowland, Calif.) picked up a 2-2 afternoon with three runs scored.        

Whittier returns to Palmer Field this Saturday, March 7 as they host La Verne with game times set for 12:00pm and 2:00pm.