Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Softball team nearly pulled off a sweep of Claremont-M-S Saturday splitting with the Athenas on the road.
The Purple & Gold have now won two of their last four and improve to 4-7, 1-2 SCIAC.
Game 1 (L, 4-2)
Whittier sat in a good spot in Game 1 leading 2-1 after five innings. After three scoreless innings WC put up two in the 4th with Ashlei Sanchez (San Dimas, Calif.) coming up clutch with a single up the middle that plated Amanda Melodia (Placentia, Calif.) and Sofia Paniagua (Glendora, Calif.). The Athenas got one back in the bottom half of the inning and that score remained until the 6th when CMS was able to mount a comeback with three runs on five hits. This swung the momentum putting the Athenas on top 4-2 and they didn't let up retiring the Poets 1-2-3 in the 7th.
Sam Casanas (La Habra, Calif.) was handed a tough loss going 5.1 Innings giving up four runs on five hits. She is now 1-1 on the season.
Sanchez was 1-for-3 with two RBI's, Hannah Angileri (San Jose, Calif.) was 1-for-3 and Jannelle Ha (Arcadia, Calif.) and Naomi Martinez (Marina Del Rey, Calif.) were each 1-for-4.
Game 2 (W, 6-5)
The second game of the twin bill was different with both teams scoring in the 1st Inning. Ha started things off with a double to right center and Brianna MaGee (Torrance, Calif.) then singled to the pitcher moving Ha to third. Martinez then reached on a fielders choice as Ha was thrown out at home attempting to score and that then led to Hayley Wishner (Chino, Calif.) grounding out to the first baseman that allowed the go-ahead run to come in.
CMS picked up two in their opening at-bats with Richards tripling to center that plated Koneti and then coming in on a wild pitch. In the 3rd, Whittier tied things up with Emily Facio (Chino, Calif.) doubling to right field before coming in on an Athena error by the second baseman. But in the bottom half of the frame Claremont-M-S would strike again with a three spot that moved the score to 5-2. In the 4th, Whittier rallied for two runs on three hits. Angileri singled to the pitcher but was thrown out on a fielder's choice that allowed Sierra Rodriguez (Whittier, Calif.) to reach. Yolanda Oregel (Anaheim, Calif.) then doubled to center that put two runners in scoring position and then came Facio who doubled to left center that got WC within one at 5-4.
In the 5th, the Poets tied things up with Oregel coming up clutch once again this time with a two-out single. Then after a scoreless 6th Whittier scored the eventual game-winning run in the 7th. After a groundout from Angileri, Rodriguez started things off with a single to left field. Oregel then grounded out to the first baseman moving the runner to second and after that a CMS miscue on a Facio groundout allowed the go-ahead to run to come in.
Alexis Vargas (Pomona, Calif.) threw a complete game picking up the win improving to 1-1. She gave up five runs on 10 hits. Wishner had a big game with a 3-for-4 effort and an RBI. Oregel was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Facio was 2-for-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in.
Whittier remains in SCIAC play next weekend as they open a three-game series with Chapman University. They host the Panthers for a single game on Friday, March 6 at 1:00pm. Then Saturday, March 7 they travel down to Orange for a twin bill.
