Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Softball team was forced to play catch-up Tuesday afternoon at Palmer Field as they came away with a split against Hamline University winning game one 6-5 before falling 8-5 in the second.
Today's doubleheader wraps up the non-conference schedule for the Purple & Gold. They finish this portion of 2018 with a 7-4-1 record. Overall they move to 11-8-1, 4-4 SCIAC and still sit in 4th place in the SCIAC Standings.
Game 1 (W, 6-5)
The Poets kept their winning streak intact at five games but had to comeback to pull it off in the first game of the doubleheader. Hamline put up four runs in the top half of the first sparked by a three-run blast by Rubbelke putting WC in an early hole. The Pipers tacked on another in the 3rd but that five-run lead didn't hold.
Marialena Ahern (Fremont, Calif.) got the Poets back on track in the 4th with a solo shot to right center cutting the deficit to four. Then the rally ensued in the 7th. Jannelle Ha (Arcadia, Calif.) started off the comeback with a double down the right field line. Megan Heal (San Jose, Calif.) then came up clutch with a pinch-hit single to third and Kaitlyn Garza (Chino, Calif.) followed with a single up the middle that scored one.
After a pitching change, Whittier kept the bats going with Hannah Angileri (San Jose, Calif.) singling through the left side scoring another. Jade Sanchez (Whittier, Calif.) then laid down a bunt moving the runners over, but she was quick enough to beat out the throw loading the bases. The very next batter, Brittany Attaway (Claremont, Calif.) then stepped up and she too laid down a bunt, but this one was a suicide squeeze bringing across another run, pulling WC within one.
After a Kacey Whitney (Cypress, Calif.) pop-up to the catcher putting the Poets in a hole with two outs the game fell on the shoulders of senior Alli Fonseca (Pico Rivera, Calif.). She stepped in and delivered walking off with a single up the middle that scored two sending Whittier to the come from behind victory.
Alexis Vargas (Pomona, Calif.) got the win throwing the final 4.2 innings giving up just two hits. She improves to 5-2. Garza finished 2-4 scoring once and driving in another. Sanchez was 2-4 with a run. Attaway was 2-3 with an RBI and Whitney was 2-4.
Game 2 (L, 8-5)
The second game of the twin bill the Poets saw themselves playing catch-up all over again with the Pipers putting up another four runs in the top half of the first. Whittier got three back in the 3rd with Ha sending a solo shot to deep left center followed by Ahern doubling to dead center and Sanchez singling up the middle.
But Hamline was able to rebound putting up another four runs in the 4th to push the score to 8-3. In the bottom half of the frame, Fonseca doubled down the right field line plating Attaway to cut the deficit in half and then in the 6th, Angilieri porched one to right center moving the score to 8-5 but the comeback would stall there as the Poets would go down in the 7th unable to convert the leadoff double from Hayley Wishner (Chino, Calif.).
Amanda Melodia (Placentia, Calif.) was charged with the loss going 3.1 innings giving up eight runs on seven hits. She drops to 3-4 on the season. Ahern and Wishner were the lone Poets to get two hits on the day combining to go 4-7 with an RBI. Ha was 1-2 with a run scored and an RBI and Sanchez was 1-3 with a run batted in.
Whittier returns to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play this Saturday, March 24 when they host the University of La Verne beginning at 12:00pm and 2:00pm.
