LA VERNE, Calif. — Katherine Kibbe pitched a one-hit complete game, Mackenzie Dutton and Alexis Schiff both went yard and the University of La Verne softball team beat Whittier, 8-0, in the first game of the 2016 SCIAC Softball Championship to advance to the winners' bracket.
La Verne will face the winner of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps versus Redlands matchup at 5:30 p.m.
Kibbe (20-4) picked up right where she left off in the regular season, both in the circle and at the plate. She gave up just one hit in five innings and drove in two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Leopards earned a run-rule victory.
Dutton and Schiff opened the scoring with a bang in the bottom of the third. Victoria Baltazar came back from an 0-2 count to draw a one-out walk and Dutton sent one over the right field fence to put the Leopards up, 2-0. Schiff then cranked the first pitch in the next at-bat to the exact same location to extend the lead to 3-0.
The first five batters for the Leopards reached safely in the bottom of the fifth as the Leopards stretched their lead to 6-0 on a single through the right side by Kibbe. The Leopards added one more on a fielder's choice on a grounder by Sienna Kendricks and Michelle Deguzman knocked in two more on a bloop single to right to wrap up the game early for the Leopards.
The Leopards' defense shined as well, converting every batted ball other than the single into outs.
Dutton and Baltazar both had two hits to lead the Leopards.
Ally Fonseca hit the lone single in the top of of the fifth.