Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. (Mar. 25, 2022) – Sophomore first baseman Emily Adkison (Laguna Niguel, Calif. / Mater Dei) of the Whittier College softball team was two times a hero for the Poets in their sweep of Lewis & Clark College in Thursday afternoon's doubleheader. Adkison, who raised her batting average over the .400 mark with the big day, earned back-to-back seventh-inning walk-off hits to bring the Purple & Gold to 13 wins on the season.

Game 1: Whittier 4, Lewis & Clark 3

While both of Adkison's game-winning hits ultimately came against the same pitcher, her walk-off single in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader came in an inning where the Poets actually trailed the Pioneers, 3-2, and were staring a tough loss directly in the face before some clutch hitting from Adkison and her teammates came into focus. Sophomore Marissa Flynn (Covina, Calif. / South Hills) opened the inning with a hard-hit double into right field that put a runner in scoring position right off the bat. Sophomore outfielder Sara Chiala (Los Gatos, Calif. / Los Gatos) kept the momentum going by reaching on a play where a pop fly bounced in and out of the glove of the Pioneers' starting pitcher. Chiala then went on to swipe second base, giving the Poets a pair of runners in scoring position with nobody out. After a sac fly from junior leadoff hitter Kelly Monroy (La Puente, Calif. / Rio Hondo College) knotted the game at three runs apiece, Atkison blasted a single into right-center that split the outfielders and easily scored Chiala from third to give the Poets a Game 1 win.

Junior starter Riley Garcia (Fullerton, Calif. / Sunny Hills) put the Poets in a position to win with just two earned runs over the full seven-inning game, continuing her recent string of success. The win gives her six for the year, which leads the Whittier pitching trio. Additionally, Garcia pitched with a lead for nearly half the game thanks to the Poets scratching two runs across in the third inning. A single down the right-field line from senior third baseman Yolanda Oregel (Anaheim, Calif. / Loara) brought Flynn home from second after the first of two doubles for the game, while Monroy took home during the ensuing at-bat. Flynn's double moved her slugging percentage up to .656, which leads all Poets and will have her currently ranked fourth among SCIAC players once she has appeared in at least 75 percent of games. She has currently appeared in 14 of 19, equaling out to about 74 percent of games.

Game 2: Whittier 8, Lewis & Clark 7

Adkison came up big for the Poets in a similar spot in the second game of the doubleheader, against the same pitcher no less who came in for relief of the Pioneers' Game 2 starter at the midway point. This time, Whittier entered the seventh inning in a tie game, but with the wind at their back after junior pitcher Jamie Garvey (Wilmington, Calif. / El Camino College) entered the game in relief of starter Katelyn Calvetti (Monterey, Calif. / Monterey) and dominated the Pioneers over 2.1 hitless innings. The visitors had a tough time catching up to the heat the junior was throwing, and Garvey's five strikeouts gave the Poets' offense a second wind after tagging the Pioneers for five runs in the opening frame. However, the Poets were not able to put anything together until there were two outs on the board. From there, Monroy singled through the left side to bring up Adkison, though the sophomore would have figured to need something special to score her teammate all the way from first. Adkison would deliver, however, with a double through the right side that slowed its roll perfectly before reaching the right fielder, providing Monroy some extra time beat the throw home and give the Poets their second win of the day and third in as many games.

The Poets set a 2022 record in Game 2 with six extra-base hits that were not of the home run variety. Adkison doubled twice and would be joined by teammates Jocelyn Signoretti (La Palma, Calif. / Kennedy), Brianna MaGee (Torrance, Calif. / West Torrance) and Andrea Maushardt (Lakewood, Calif. / Saint Joseph) as players to double. Meanwhile, Luna connected on a triple in the first inning, her third of the year, putting her exceptional baserunning skills to use. As for Adkison, she has established herself among the elite 

Head Coach Trisha Senyo and the Poets will now embark on a four-game road trip in the Pacific Northwest where they will take on George Fox University and Pacific University between this Saturday and Sunday. 

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