Softball sweeps CMS, takes first place

Softball sweeps CMS, takes first place

CLAREMONT, Calif. — The La Verne softball team swept Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday afternoon at Athena Field to move to the top of the SCIAC standings. The Leopards improve to 16-4 in SCIAC play while the Athenas fall to 14-6.

Game 1: La Verne 1, CMS 0 (9 inn.)

Sienna Kendricks drove in the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning and Elisa Ponce outdueled CMS All-American Anna Gurr to lift the La Verne softball team to a 1-0 victory over the Athenas in the first game.

The two aces went toe-to-toe until the end. Ponce (9-2) scattered seven hits while issuing two walks and recorded five strikeouts. Gurr (11-4) gave up just five hits without giving up a walk and fanned eight.

Fittingly, the game was decided on a fielding error and the winning run was unearned. With one out in the top of the eighth, Carly Condon got the rally started with a single to center. Alexis Schiff then hit a routine grounder to the right side and CMS second baseman Reeve Grobecker went to second get the lead out but the shorstop Abigail Metsch muffed the catach, putting runners on first and second. Gurr struck out the next batter but Kendricks came through with a clutch hit to center to plate Condon and that was all La Verne needed.

Ponce retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth, capped off by whiffing Grobecker, to seal the win.

The Athenas managed to get on base in every inning but two but Ponce time and again flashed her ability to get out of trouble, stranding a total of 10 runners on base.

Game 2: La Verne 12, CMS 2 (5 inn.)

The Leopards broke through for six runs on five hits in the first inning to put the game away early.

The first five batters of the game reached for the Leopards. Schiff plated the first run of the game on a single and Kendricks followed with a two-run single. After Angelica DeAngelo walked, Shelby Tevis and Justice Borden smacked back-to-back doubles and Tevis scored on a wild pitch to give the Leopards a 6-0 lead before the crowd had a chance to settle back in.

La Verne added a run in the third on an RBI double by Michelle Deguzman and in the fifth, the Leopards loaded the bases and Schiff, Kendricks and DeAngelo went single-double-double in order to put a run-rule win in play.

The Athenas broke their scoring seal in the bottom of the fifth on a bases-loaded groundout and a passed ball but could not extend the game.

Hayley Jaquess (8-3) was solid in the circle for La Verne. She kept the Athenas scoreless for the first four innings and picked up the win.

Schiff, Kendricks and DeAngelo combined for five hits, eight RBI and five runs on the game.

Up next

The Leopards return to action on Friday at Cal Lutheran.