WHITTIER, Calif. (Mar. 1, 2025) – Senior
Maya Palos (Monterey Park, Calif. / Schurr) of the Whittier College softball team powered her team to a huge two-game sweep of a tough Susquehanna University team on Friday afternoon. The Poets put up a combined 13 runs between the two games, including eight in a Game 1 comeback victory.
Game 1: Whittier 8, Susquehanna 6
Whittier showed, much like it has in other outings this season, that it can overcome adversity in addition to being a team capable of a late rally. Susquehanna did most of its damage in the third inning, and little by little, the Poets chipped away at the deficit before breaking through with a huge fifth inning. While Palos would ultimately homer in Game 2, in Game 1, it was freshman
Andrea Toledo (Hayward, Calif. / Mt. Eden) who came through with a three-run shot to effectively erase the deficit and give her team a three-run lead. Sophomore outfielder
Daniella Contreras (Buena Park, Calif. / John F. Kennedy) opened the inning with a triple down the left field line, and following a
Sydney Verlin (Moscow, Idaho / Moscow / University of Saint Katherine | Folsom Lake College) walk, senior
Mia Rivas (Porterville, Calif. / Monache / University of Saint Katherine) delivered a base knock to score Contreras before Toledo cleared the bases.
Junior starter
Bella Peinado (Ventura, Calif. / Ventura) effectively pitched to contact over the first two innings, and in an effort to preserve her for the second game of the doubleheader, senior
Olivia Nunez (Placentia, Calif. / Valencia / Fullerton College) relieved her in the top third. Nunez recovered from a tough third inning to throw four strong innings the rest of the way where she struck out three Riverhawks. Susquehanna flashed its own power earlier in the game, but ultimately found little space to operate offensively outside of the long ball, grounding out twice in the final inning of play.
Game 2: Whittier 5, Susquehanna 1
Peinado, for a second game in a row, got the starting nod and cruised through 4.2 innings, striking out a pair of the visiting team's batters along the way. Senior
Kiley Kraft (Alhambra, Calif. / Ramona Convent Secondary School / Pasadena City College) relieved her ahead of the fifth inning and delivered two-and-a-third perfect innings, notching a strikeout of her own to keep the Riverhawks' bats dormant. Susquehanna's only run of the game came in the second innings when they were able to take advantage of a Poets' defensive miscue to get on the board.
However, it would have taken a lot more than that to put down the Poets on Friday. For a second game in a row, Whittier broke through with a three-run home run, this time off the bat of its star catcher. The senior crushed a Susquehanna pitch into left field, ricocheting off the top left corner of the scoreboard. In doing so, she was able to knock home senior
Kelly Nutter (Carlsbad, Calif. / La Costa Canyon / Cal State San Marcos | Palomar College) and freshman
Mariah Rodriguez (Barstow, Calif. / Barstow). Rodriguez, playing the role of designated player in Game 2, whacked a double into left center field in the fifth inning to pad Whittier's lead. With Kraft firmly installed as the Poets' top arm down the stretch, the senior had more than enough run support to finish the job and get Peinado her fouth win in seven decisions this season.
Head Coach Terry Schweikert and the Poets can make it three wins in four, or perhaps even four in a row when they take on the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford tomorrow, Mar. 8. The first game of the doubleheader is slated for a noon start time.
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