LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne softball team amassed 17 runs and collected 25 hits in just 10 innings of play on Saturday as it swept Occidental at Campus West.
La Verne improves to 13-4 overall and 10-2 in SCIAC play. Oxy falls to 6-12 and 2-6.
Game 1: La Verne 9, Occidental 1 (5 inn.)
Sienna Kendricks collected three hits, Alexis Schiff knocked in three runs and the University of La Verne softball team beat Occidental, 9-1, in the first game of a twinbill on Saturday afternoon at Campus West.
The Leopards blew open what had been a tight game in the fifth inning as it put together six hits to score seven runs to invoke the run rule. Katherine Kibbe singled to lead off the inning, Kendricks followed with a double and Kibbe scored on an errant throw home by the shortstop. Carly Condon drove in two with a bases loaded single, Alexis Schiff hit a three-run triple to give the Leopards a 8-1 lead and Kendricks knocked in the clinching run with a single to right.
La Verne took advantage of a couple of errors to break the scoring seal in the third inning. The Leopards loaded the bases to start the inning and Kibbe and Kendricks came up with consecutive singles to give the Leopards a 2-0 lead.
The Tigers got one right back in the top of the fourth as Alex Battest led off with a single and Bailey Stevens followed with a double.
Kendricks was 3-for-4 at the plate and knocked in two runs. Schiff, Condon and Kibbe each added two hits.
Kibbe (6-3) earned the win after giving up one run on three hits while racking up four strikeouts.
Dallas Boyce (2-4) was charged with the loss after giving up six runs.
Game 2: La Verne 8, Occidental 0 (5 inn.)
Kibbe only gave up two hits in an otherwise flawless start and the bats scratched 14 hits off Oxy pitchers as La Verne defeated Oxy, 8-0, in the second game.
Kibbe (7-3) was tabbed for back-to-back starts and got even better as the day wore on. She gave up a single in the first inning and a double in the fourth but limited the damage each time and did not give up a walk to earn the win.
Mackenzie Dutton was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and scored a run. Condon, Victoria Baltazar and Schiff each had two hits.
The Leopards got on the board in the second inning as they loaded the bases to start the inning and Condon and Baltazar hit consecutive singles to give the Leopards a 3-0 lead.
The bottom of the fourth played out nearly identically as La Verne hit three straight singles to start the inning and load the bases with no outs. Kibbe smacked a double to deep center to plate two runs and the Leopards scored another on a balk. Kendricks followed with a single to give the Leopards a 7-0 lead and Carly Condon drove in the eighth run needed to force a run rule win.
Oxy's Madison Romero (2-2) gave up five runs on nine hits in three innings and was tagged with the loss.
Up next
The Leopards travel to Tucson, Arizona, next week for the Tucson Invitational Games on March 16-18. La Verne will square off against Denison, Puget Sound, Wisconsin-Eau Claire and George Fox.