LA VERNE, Calif. — Katherine Kibbe got back on track and the University of La Verne softball team came through with timely hits to beat Whittier, 5-1, in the morning elimination game on Saturday at the 2016 SCIAC Softball Postseason Tournament.
The Leopards will face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 1:30 p.m. in another elimination game for them.
Kibbe (21-5), who struggled in the circle for the first time in nearly two months last night against the Athenas, pitched a complete game while giving up just one run on six hits.
She also broke a 0-0 deadlock with a no-doubter two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. She finished 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored.
Marialena Ahern got the Poets on the board in the next half-inning with an RBI double that trimmed La Verne's lead to 2-1 but the Leopards got the run right back with a Michelle Deguzman single that plated Raeleen Tellez and Tellez added two insurance markers in the bottom of the sixth with a line drive double to deep left that scored a pair of runs.
Kibbe gave up a couple of two-out singles in the top of the seventh but closed the game out with a groundout.
Tellez and Kendricks each had two hits for La Verne.
Ahern led all players with three hits for Whittier.