Box Score ORANGE, Calif. (Mar. 18, 2025) – The Whittier College softball team concluded a three-game SCIAC series with Chapman University on Wednesday evening, putting the end to a SCIAC series that took nearly a month to complete due to complications caused by consistent rainfall this spring.
The Poets put two runs up on the board, and while they came up short of taking the season series over the Panthers, they did have their moments as well as opportunities that were unable to manifest. The Poets, led by senior middle infielder
Arianna Salazar (San Diego, Calif. / Clairemont / University of Saint Katherine | San Diego Mesa College), scattered seven hits over seven innings, and actually struck first. Salazar hit a single up the middle in the first inning that scored freshman catcher
Mariah Rodriguez (Barstow, Calif. / Barstow). The added time in between games meant that Poets had to bat against Chapman's top pitcher, but there was still success to be had.
Senior transfer
Mikaela Pamplona (Stockton, Calif. / Lincoln / University of Saint Katherine | Folsom Lake College) delivered one of Whittier's most impactful hits of the game in the fourth inning when she tripled into center field. Senior first baseman
Sydnee Verlin (Moscow, Idaho / Moscow / University of Saint Katherine | Folsom Lake College) knocked her home with a sacrifice fly on the ensuing at-bat, but the Poets were ultimately unable to to string enough runs together to compete with the Panthers over the game's final frames. Rodriguez, however, further showed herself to be one of the top freshman talents in the conference with a hit and a walk to increase her triple-slash line to 438/.589/.653 on the season.
Head Coach Terry Schweikert and the Poets will next host Carleton College for a doubleheader on Monday, Mar. 24. It will be the first of three that week as the Poets look to make their final adjustments before finishing the season with the regular rotation of SCIAC opponents.
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