By Madison Rubino
La Verne Athletics Communication
LA VERNE, Calif. — In the battle between last year's SCIAC Champion La Verne and SCIAC Postseason Tournament Champion Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the two sides played to a draw as they split the doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Campus West.
Game 1: La Verne 3, CMS 1
Sienna Kendricks blasted a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Leopards a 3-1 win in the first game.
With the game hanging in the balance and both pitchers throwing well, Alexis Schiff got the rally started with a single to lead off the sixth inning. The next two hitters went down but Kendricks rose to the occasion and hit one over the center field fence to score the game-winning runs.
Elisa Ponce got the start in the circle and threw the first complete game of her La Verne career. She recorded a season-high 10 strikeouts while giving up just one walk and no earned runs.
With a two-run lead going in the top of the seventh inning, Ponce struck out the first two batters before giving up a bunt single. But she brushed it off and got Marissa Valdovinos to fly out to center to seal the game.
The Athenas struck first on an RBI single by Carly Roleder in the top of the third but the Leopards responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning. Shelby Tevis reached and advanced to second on an error and Rachel Ogata beat a heavy shift shading left by hitting single through the right side to tie the game at 1-1.
Anna Gurr was tagged with the loss for CMS, giving up two runs in six innings.
Game 2: CMS 7, La Verne 6
The Leopards rallied from an early deficit but could not quite complete the comeback in a 7-6 loss in the second game.
The Athenas scored three runs in each of the first two innings but the Leopards responded in the bottom of the third inning four runs to get back in the game. But Gurr, who came on in relief in the in third, didn't spare a hit for La Verne in the final four innings to help the Athenas to the victory.
CMS scored the winning run in the top of the sixth when Ande Troutman brought home Reeve Grobecker with a single that fell in no man's land in right field.
Schiff went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI for the Leopards. Haley Gomez also went yard for La Verne.
Troutman and Grobecker each had two hits. Carly Roleder hit a home run and drove in four runs.
The Leopards return to action next Saturday at home for a doubleheader against Cal Lutheran.
