Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

FOREST GROVE, Ore. (Mar. 27, 2022) – The Whittier College softball team ran its record to 15 wins over the weekend when they swept Sunday's doubleheader with Pacific University.

Game 1: Whittier 6, Pacific 4

The closer of the two games saw the Poets' bats go quiet, though they still led more often than not. The Purple & Gold eventually found themselves in a seventh-inning hole, but have proven to be a strong seventh-inning team as of late, which is precisely when they were able to hit the Boxers hardest. Whittier tagged the home team with five runs in the top seventh, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the frame. Sophomore and senior infielders Emily Adkison (Laguna Niguel, Calif. / Mater Dei) and Yolanda Oregel (Anaheim, Calif. / Loara) accounted for most the damage, blasting two-RBI doubles in back-to-back situations. Prior to Adkison's double, the Poets had utilized small ball to fill manuever around the basepaths, setting two of the team's top hitters up beautifully in an inning where the Poets needed to score in order to extend the game. Junior infielder Kelly Monroy (La Puente, Calif. / Rio Hondo College) also got in on the action with an RBI single that preceded Adkison's seventh-inning at-bat, and finished the series with five hits in eight at-bats.

A solid combined effort from juniors Katelyn Calvetti (Monterey, Calif. / Monterey) and Riley Garcia (Fullerton, Calif. / Sunny Hills) on the mound helped keep the Poets' deficit small, making a seventh-inning comeback for a team with two walkoff hits to its name already this week an easily achievable feat. The two players combined for a 6:1 K:BB ratio over the full seven innings, and Calvetti, who got the starting nod, pitched with a lead for the majority of her time on Sunday afternoon. Garcia would control the Boxers from there, picking up her second win of the week. Whittier took an early lead in the second inning which Calvetti pitched with for three innings after somely timely baserunning from senior outfielder Brianna MaGee (Torrance, Calif. / West Torrance) helped stake the Poets to a one-run lead. MaGee stole one of her two bases for the game during this time, and ran her season total to 10 steals in the process, putting her top-five among SCIAC players.

Game 2: Whittier 9, Pacific 1 (5 inn.)

The Poets came out looking to make a statement in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader, and that's just what they did, performing well in all three areas. Junior starter Jamie Garvey (Wilmington, Calif. / El Camino College) continued an impressive recent stretch of performances by pitching five strong frames and accumulating three punchouts along the way. The junior also scattered seven baserunners over the five innings thanks to an impressive combination of velocity and command. The Boxers' lone run of the game came in the second frame, and from there, Garvey was outstanding, throwing three scoreless innings to give the Poets their second mercy-rule victory of the season and first on the road.

Garvey also had the luxury of not having to pitch with anything less than a lead for the game's entirety, as the Poets jumped on the Boxers with three runs in the first-inning, followed by three more in the ensuing frame. Sophomore infielder Marissa Flynn (Covina, Calif. / South Hills) crushed a double in the opening frame that brought both Adkison and Monroy home, and would soon score herself after a fielder's choice allowed her to come home from third. Whittier would go on to sting Pacific with 16 hits in all, five of which came in the second inning which Monroy opened with a double into left field. From there, three consecutive Whittier hits would score Adkison, Flynn and MaGee back-to-back-to-back. Whittier would put two more runs on Pacific in the fourth inning, opening the door for an early end to second game of the doubleheader. Flynn and MaGee, who would combined for five of the Poets' nine runs, accounted for both of the Poets' fourth-inning runs, with Flynn picking up her second double of the game to get on base. 

Head Coach Trisha Senyo and the Poets will now head back to Southern California where the final five SCIAC weekend series' of the season await them. Next on the docket will be Occidental College, with the Poets traveling to Oxy for a 3 p.m. game on Friday, Apr. 1.

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