Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. (Mar. 18, 2022) – The Whittier College softball team played three great games against the University of La Verne over the weekend, eventually taking the final game of the series from the Leopards on Saturday afternoon.

Friday: La Verne 7, Whittier 6 (9 inn.)

A back-and-forth affair in Friday's series opener saw the Poets force extras against the tough Leopards in highlight-reel fashion. Though the Poets have typically been strong at the dish in the sixth and seventh inning this season, sophomore Marissa Flynn (Covina, Calif. / South Hills) raised the late-game bar with a two-run rocket into dead center field with the Poets on their final out of the game. Sophomore Emily Adkison (Laguna Niguel, Calif. / Mater Dei) had reached base during the previous at-bat with a single into right-center field, also a do-or-die situation. The clutch hitting sent the fans in attendance into a frenzy and set the home team up with a considerable amount of momentum heading into extra innings.

The Poets and Leopards exchanged clean eighth innings to start off extras, with junior Riley Garcia (Fullerton, Calif. / Sunny Hills) leading things after entering the game in relief of classmate Katelyn Calvetti (Monterey, Calif. / Monterey) towards the end of the sixth inning. Garcia, the reigning SCIAC Pitcher of the Week, responded with four strikeouts in just 3.1 innings of work and exhibited her traditionally great control with just one walk over that span. The Leopards would, however, find a perfect storm in the top ninth, but came out of the inning with just one run to show for it thanks to a pair of nasty strikeouts from the Poets' junior pitcher. The Poets looked poised to respond in the bottom of the inning, with freshman outfielder Sara Luna (Downey, Calif. / Downey) reaching second base prior to Adkison coming up with an opportunity to tie the game. Adkison hit a good-looking ball into left field that would, unfortunately, find its way into the glove of the Leopards' left fielder as a result of a great defensive play. The Poets' momentum would however follow them into Saturday's doubleheader, with Friday showing they could make the Leopards pay with the deep ball. Sophomore Lindsey Perry (Corona, Calif. / Santiago) cracked her second home run of the season earlier in the game with the ball just barely clearing the left-field foul pole. 

Saturday Game 1: La Verne 4, Whittier 3

The first game of Saturday's doubleheader bore similar elements to Friday's game, but the Poets actually led for more than 90 percent of the game thanks to a three-run first inning that resulted in the Leopards' starting pitcher fielding just one out before getting the hook. The Poets did the damage through a volume-based approach at the dish with five of their first six batters reaching base. Junior infielder Kelly Monroy (La Puente, Calif. / Rio Hondo College), who was one of four different Poets to register at least two hits in the game, scored one of her team's three runs of the inning on a single into right field that kept the bases loaded while scoring Atkison. Atkison, along with seniors Yolanda Oregel (Anaheim, Calif. / Loara) and Emily Facio (Chino, Calif. / Chino) joined Monroy as the Poets to achieve multiple hits, with the four players combining for eight of the Poets' 10 hits.

Junior Jamie Garvey (Wilmington, Calif. / El Camino College) got the nod for the Poets in Saturday's early game and pitched with a three-run lead at her back for the majority of the contest. She overwhelmed La Verne with eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings, but as the Leopards began to chip away from the third inning onward, the Poets, unfortunately, ran out of rope with the offense having mixed results with the Leopards' reliever. Eventually, La Verne would secure the series victory with an ill-timed play in the seventh inning in spite of the Poets being equally competitive as they were on Friday.

Saturday Game 2: Whittier 6, La Verne 2

The Poets were able to get back on track in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, bringing their conference record back to .500 in the process. While the bats continued their dormant ways through the beginning of the game, the Poets would eventually put it all together with a six-run fifth inning that yielded a two-RBI triple from Monroy among other critical plays as they hit through the entire order. The Poets came out firing in the frame, immediately loading the bases before a single into left field from Flynn cut the Leopards' two-run lead in half. With the bases loaded, a run in hand and nobody out, the Poets kept the pressure on, reaching base by any means necessary, paving the way for another gem from Garcia.

The Fullerton native pitched the entirety of Game 3 after throwing more than three innings on Friday, and was as good as advertised, scattering seven hits over seven innings while shutting out the Leopards once the Poets took the lead in the fifth. The win moves the junior to 5-2 on the year while the Poets totaled 31 hits over the three-game weekend and actually outhit their SCIAC foes over a razor-close series by most metrics. Adkison, meanwhile would finish the weekend among the Poets' leading bats with another .500 stretch that saw her accumulate six hits, four runs scored, and a walk.

Head Coach Trisha Senyo and the Poets will host their final non-SCIAC doubleheader of the season on Thursday, Mar. 24. They will play host to Lewis & Clark College, beginning at noon.
 

 
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