CLAREMONT, Calif. — The University of La Verne softball team finished the 2014 season on a high note as it swept the doubleheader against Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday afternoon.
The Leopards end the season on a five-game winning streak with a 20-20 overall record and 14-14 in SCIAC play.
Game 1: La Verne 6, Pomona-Pitzer 3
La Verne blitzed Pomona-Pitzer with runs in each of the first four innings to beat the Sagehens, 6-3, in Game 1.
Danielle Vela and Mackenzie Dutton scored in the first and the second innings, respectively, and the Leopards added two in the third on heads-up baserunning. With runners at the corners, Amanda Chavez singled through the right side to score BreeAnna De La Rosa and Kibbe came all the way around from first to score on two errors by the Sagehen defense.
Raven Freret hit a bases-loaded single in the fourth to give La Verne a 5-0 lead.
Pomona-Pitzer got three in the bottom of the sixth to put a little doubt in the Leopards minds. The Sagehens loaded the bases to start the inning an Susanne Boden doubled to the gap in left center to pick up two and Lindsay McCord smacked a double of her own to score Boden.
But La Verne scored an insurance run in the top of the seventh and Hayley Jacquess got all three hitters in the bottom of the inning to ground out to Chavez to seal the win for the Leopards.
Vela, De La Rosa, Freret and Rebecca Ireland each had two hits. Freret had two RBI and Ireland scored two runs.
Jaquess picked up the win in the circle, giving up three runs in seven innings.
Game 2: La Verne 6, Pomona-Pitzer 1 (9 innings)
Katherine Kibbe fired a nine-inning complete game, Alexis Schiff went 5-for-5 with a two-run home run in a five-run ninth inning and La Verne beat Pomona-Pitzer, 6-1, in Game 2.
The Leopards out-hit the Sagehens 13-4 in the game, but could not break through with the game-winning run until the ninth inning, when they exploded for five runs.
After a quick first out in the ninth, Olson doubled to deep center and scored when the right fielder muffed the hop on Danielle Vela's single. The Leopards added two more on a single and a sacrifice fly by Freret and Kibbe, respectively, and then Schiff launched a dagger home run over the left field fence to give La Verne its final tally of the game.
La Verne nearly didn't get a chance to bat in the ninth. In the bottom of the eighth, Ashley Morello singled up the middle and Kibbe threw away a Caitlyn Hynes comebacker to put runners on second and third with just one out. But Kibbe bore down got the next two hitters on infield choppers to wiggle out of the jam.
Kibbe was excellent throughout. She kept the Sagehens hitless through 3.2 innings and did not have a runner advance past first until the sixth inning when Pomona-Pitzer scored its only run of the game.
Freret finished the game 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run. Katie Cunningham had two hits.
Lauren Boden and Ashley Morello accounted for the Sagehens' entire offense. Each went 2-for-4, Boden scored Morello in the bottom of the sixth with a single.
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