Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Whittier College Softball team continues to battle for the last playoff spot for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Post Season Tournament as they routed Occidental College 14-2 and 13-0 Friday afternoon.
Whittier has now won four of their last six as they move back to .500 at 19-19, 11-15 SCIAC and now hold a playoff berth in their own hands as they take on the Sagehens tomorrow at Palmer Field who sits a spot ahead of the Purple & Gold.
Game 1 (W, 14-2)
The Poets needed six innings to get rid of the Tigers in game one of the doubleheader. After three scoreless innings, Whittier erupted for six runs in the fourth on four hits, which included back-to-back doubles from Marialena Ahern (Fontana, Calif.) and Sarah Crawford (San Diego, Calif.).
Ally Fonseca (Pico Rivera, Calif.) doubled in the fifth and Kaitlyn Garza (Chino, Calif.) and Crawford would both add singles that extended the Poet lead to 9-0. Morgan Guist would add a two run shot in the bottom half of the fifth for Oxy that kept the game going but it would be short-lived as Kacey Whitney (Cypress, Calif.) would double to left center followed by a grand slam from Crawford in the sixth that sealed the victory.
Samantha Blum (San Jose, Calif.) threw 5.0 innings picking up her 11th win of the season giving up two runs on four hits.
Whitney was 3-4 with two runs scored and a run batted in. Crawford was 3-4 with a run scored and 7 RBI's and Megan Heal (San Jose, Calif.) would finish 3-4 scoring three times.
Not to be overlooked was Garza who was 1-2 but picked up three runs and two RBI's and Ahern who registered a 2-4 effort with two runs scored and two RBI's.
Game 2 (W, 13-0)
The Purple & Gold continued to roll in the second game only needing five innings this time as they shutout Oxy.
They picked up two runs in the first with Ahern hammering one to left. The Poets then opened the game up with a five spot the very next inning on five hits with singles from Heal, Whitney, Garza, Crawford, and capped off with a Natalia Sanchez (Chino Hills, Calif.) double to center.
The score moved to 7-0 but it didn't end there as another three runs came across in the third off the bats of Whitney and Crawford who both singled.
The final dagger came in the fourth when Heal hit a solo shot to lead off the inning to left that made the score 12-0 and a walk by Cat Manalo (Santa Ana, Calif.) in the fifth would push the score to 13-0.
Blum threw a complete game going 5.0 innings giving up a mere four hits and struck out three.
Whitney finished 3-5 with three runs scored and two RBI's. Sanchez was 2-3 driving in a pair and Crawford was 2-4 with a run scored and two RBI's. Ahern finished 1-2 with two runs scored and two RBI's and Fonseca and Heal both picked up two hits a piece.
Whittier wraps up their regular season tomorrow, Saturday, April 30 as they host Pomona-Pitzer in a doubleheader with game times set for 12:00pm and 2:00pm.
