THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Elisa Ponce pitched her second straight shutout to lead the La Verne softball team to a 4-0 win over Cal Lutheran in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday at Hutton Field. The Leopards dropped the second game 9-1 in six innings.
Ponce (10-2), who fired a nine-inning shutout against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps last week, was on form once again as she scattered three hits and two walks while striking out four in seven innings. She retired 12 batters in a row at one point and allowed only one baserunner in the final 4 1/3 innings.
The bats gave Ponce all the support she needed in the first inning. Carly Condon doubled to lead off the game and opened the scoring when Cal Lutheran catcher Abbigael Howard botched the throw as she stole third base. Sienna Kendricks hit a two-out double to deep left, moved to third on a wild pitch and Angelica DeAngelo drove her in with an infield single.
Cal Lutheran's Courtney Sooy managed to quiet the Leopards in the middle innings, but the Katheryn Navarro broke through to provide insurance runs in the final two innings. Navarro drove a double over the center fielder to plate Haley Gomez in the top of the sixth inning and hit a two-out single to score Alexis Schiff in the seventh.
Schiff went 3-for-4 at the plate. Condon, DeAngelo, Navarro and Michelle Deguzman each collected two hits.
The tables were turned in the second game as the Regals broke through for 12 hits while limiting the Leopards to just five hits.
The Leopards opened the scoring in the top of the second on an RBI single by Shelby Tevis but that was all they would muster for the rest of the game.
The Regals tied the game in the bottom of the second on an error by the Leopards, took the lead in the third with a run-scoring single by Olivia Leyva and broke the game open with a four-run fourth.
Leyva and Catherine Slabaugh combined to go 6-for-8 with six RBI and three runs.
The Leopards are back in action tomorrow against Chapman.