SAN MARCOS – The University of La Verne softball team dropped both games of a doubleheader, 7-0 and 13-0, against the NAIA No. 8 Cal State San Marcos on Saturday.
Game 1: CSUSM 7, La Verne 0
The Cougars' Katie Wilkinson, Hayley Davis and Ashley Dagenais combined to shut out the Leopards in Game 1, 7-0.
San Marcos jumped out to a quick lead on Brenna Parker's three-run homerun to deep center in the 1st inning and collected four hits to add four more runs on the board in the 2nd inning.
La Verne almost made a dent on the scoreboard in the 4th. Alexis Schiff reached on a sharp hit back to the pitcher to lead off and Raven Freret followed with a single to left field. Katie Cunningham drew a four-pitch walk one batter later to load the bases with one out, but the Leopards couldn't come through with the clutch hit.
Hayley Jacquess bounced back from a rough debut outing and threw five near-perfect innings in relief. The freshman held the Cougars hitless the rest of the way and made a couple of athletic plays in the field.
Parker finished with 4 RBI for San Marcos and Melyssa Bellamy drove in two.
Game 2: CSUSM 13, La Verne 0 (5 innings)
La Verne's offense stayed in a lull and the pitchers struggled as it lost Game 2, 13-0.
After escaping a one-out, bases loaded jam in the 1st inning thanks to BreeAna De La Rosa's rifle throw home that got Kaitlin McGinley in a rundown which resulted in an innining-ending double play, the Leopards ran into trouble.
Jacquess, who got the nod to start on the mound after a strong outing in Game 1, allowed two singles to lead off the 2nd and gave way to Katherine Kibbe. Kibbe, however, could not harness her control and the Cougars opened up a 3-0 lead by taking advantage of three walks.
San Marcos kept pouring it on. The Cougars plated seven runs on six hits in the 3rd inning and tacked on three more in the fourth to effectively put the game out of reach for the Leopards
The Leopard bats looked to start going in the 2nd. La Verne placed runners on second and third after center fielder McGinley overthrew the first baseman trying to shoot out Mackenzie Dutton. But as has been the case so far this season, the Leopards couldn't come up with a big hit.
La Verne looks to earn the first win of the season when it travels to Occidental next Saturday to begin conference play.