Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College softball team ran into a tough test Friday afternoon as they battled Pacific (Ore.) early only to fall 9-1 at Pomona-Pitzer Stadium.  This handed the Poets their second loss on the season as they dropped to 3-2 on the young season.

Pacific struck early with two runs in the top half of the first off the bat of Rachel Roberts who led things off with a solo shot followed by an Ashley Mitchell double.

Whittier got one back the very next inning to cut the deficit to one as Ally Fonseca (Pico Rivera, Calif.) would triple bringing across Megan Troutman (Covina, Calif.) who drew a walk to lead off the inning.

But this would be the only run mustered by the Purple & Gold as the Boxers would get after Samantha Blum (San Jose, Calif.) in the sixth with five runs on five hits that put the game out of reach.

Whittier got just two hits on the afternoon, one from Kaitlyn Garza (Chino, Calif.) and the other from Troutman. 

Blum got the loss dropping her to 2-2 after she gave up eight runs on eight hits.