Box Score CLAREMONT, Calif. (Mar. 1, 2024) – The Whittier College softball team showed it could rebound at the dish by going on the road and beating Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, 8-5, in its 2024 SCIAC debut.
After the bats went dormant against York College of Pennsylvania earlier in the week, the Poets showed they could not only continue to make contact with greater on-base success (they struck out just one time), but that they could weave together a late rally against a tough SCIAC opponent. After all, it took the Poets until the fifth inning to amount any runs, though they would finish the game having battered the Sagehens with 13 hits while committing nary an error.
Senior first baseman
Emily Adkison (Laguna Niguel, Calif. / Mater Dei) led with multiple RBIs as one of five different Poets with multiple hits, and one of four to register extra-base hits. With the bases loaded, the senior's contact got the Poets aboard on an infield play in which two runs came around to score. Later that same inning, classmate
Heaven Wolf (Montebello, Calif. / Schurr) would tag up on a ball sacrificed into foul territory by another senior,
Marissa Flynn (Covina, Calif. / South Hills), to tie the game before junior catcher
Maya Palos (Monterey Park, Calif. / Schurr) knocked in Adkison to give the Purple & Gold its first lead of the game. Friday also marked the first time Adkison has hit lead off this season, and she quickly showed she could be an effective table setter as well as a table clearer by slapping a double into left center field in the first at-bat of the game.
With a one-run lead already in hand, the Poets continued to pour it on in the sixth inning, giving pitcher
Kiley Kraft (Alhambra, Calif. / Ramona Convent Secondary School) plenty of run support in a winning effort. Middle infielder
Kelly Nutter (Carlsbad, Calif. / La Costa Canyon) started things off with a double down the left field line before advancing to third on a wild pitch. A near certainty to double the Poets' lead, Nutter did just that when she scored on a single from classmate
Sara Luna (Downey, Calif. / Downey). Luna then continued the theme of effective base running by stealing second to put another runner in scoring position before Wolf knocked her in on a single through the right side. Two passed balls helped the Poets' cause, but the visitors ultimately came away with three runs in the sixth before adding one more for good measure in the seventh thanks to two talented freshmen. Designated player
Lily Stell (Burbank, Calif. / Burbank) doubled into left center field before classmate
Daniella Contreras (Buena Park, Calif. / John F. Kennedy) drove another double into center field to score her teammate.
Kraft, meanwhile, effectively pitched to contact throughout the game, allowing just six base runners.
Head Coach
Trisha Senyo and the Poets will host the Sagehens for the remainder of their SCIAC series on Saturday, Mar. 9 at noon and 2 p.m. after a series of storms over the weekend. In the meantime, they will host Baldwin Wallace on Tuesday, Mar. 5 for a noon doubleheader.
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