Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College softball team moved back into first place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings Saturday as they shutout Occidental College 5-0 and 8-0.
With the sweep the Poets improve to 11-4, 7-1 SCIAC, while Occidental drops to 3-13, 2-8 SCIAC.
Game 1 (Whittier – 5, Oxy – 0)
After two scoreless innings, Whittier would finally strike for three runs in the top half of the third coming on a Mercedez Cundiff (Rowland, Calif.) single to left and an Ashlyn Canchola (La Verne, Calif.) double to center.
Whittier would add insurance in the sixth with freshman Karina Silva (San Diego, Calif.) picking up her third hit on the season that plated Alyse Gutierrez (Chino Hills, Calif.) and Marialena Ahern (Fremont, Calif.).
Sophomore Samantha Blum (San Jose, Calif.) threw a complete game shutout allowing just four hits, while striking out six en route to picking up her sixth win on the season.
Canchola finished the game 2-3 with two RBI's. Ahern was 1-2 with a run scored and Emi Shimamoto (Santa Clarita, Calif.), Samantha Mellano (Fullerton, Calif.), and Cundiff each recorded a hit.
Game 2 (Whittier – 8, Oxy – 0)
Whittier's bats remained hot in game two of the doubleheader putting up eight runs on 13 hits and received their second consecutive shutout from sophomore Rachel Alhanati (Buena Park, Calif.) who went a complete game giving up just two hits, while striking out five picking up her fifth win on the season.
Canchola knocked in the first run with a sacrifice fly to center that plated Shimamoto who reached on a walk and later moved to third following a wild pitch and a stolen base.
The Purple & Gold would then add another seven runs spanning the 4th, 5th, and 6th that wrapped up their seventh conference victory.
Gutierrez singled to second that led off the sixth. Blum singled to right and then advanced to second on the throw that put two runners in scoring position. After a Silva popup, Alexandra Flores (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) would double to left that brought in two.
Leading 3-0, WC would add another three the very next inning thanks to five hits, which included a double by Gutierrez, and singles from Canchola, Cundiff, and Flores.
This moved the score to 6-0 but the Poets wanted more bringing across another two in the sixth behind a double to left from Canchola and a single by Cundiff to right.
Flores finished 2-4 with an RBI. Canchola was a perfect 3-3 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, and Gutierrez was 3-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Whittier returns back to their non-conference schedule this Tuesday, March 17 as they host Hamline University with game times set for 2:00pm and 4:00pm.
