LA VERNE, Calif. — The La Verne softball team swept Redlands to claim its second straight SCIAC Championship on Saturday afternoon at Campus West. It is La Verne's ninth conference championship.
La Verne won 8-0 in the first game to clinch at least a share of the title and Angelica DeAngelo hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning of the second game to hand the Leopards the a 5-4 and the outright title.
The Leopards finish the season 20-8 in SCIAC play (27-11 overall) and will host the 4-team, double elimination SCIAC Softball Postseason Tournament on May 5-7 as the top seed.
With the second game tied at 4-4, Alexis Schiff started La Verne's rally with a walk and Sienna Kendricks followed with a single to set the table for DeAngelo. After looking at a couple of pitches, DeAngelo sent one to the center field fence to easily plate Schiff and give the Leopards a 5-4 win.
Shelby Tevis hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to stake the Leopards out to a 4-0 lead and starter Elisa Ponce tossed six shutout innings but the Bulldogs rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to send the game to extra innings.
Hayley Jaquess pitched a 1-hit shutout and Kendricks hit a walk-off home run to lead the Leopards to a 8-0 run-rule win over Redlands in the first game.
Jaquess (10-5) turned in one of her best outings of the season. She kept the Bulldogs off-balance all game and allowed just two baserunners. She gave up a leadoff walk in the fourth inning but immediately induced a double play to erase the runner and retired three in row after giving up a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth.
Hayley Jaquess pitched a shutout to lead the Leopards to an 8-0 win over Redlands in the 1st game of doubleheader! pic.twitter.com/FNI7srohiI
— La Verne Leopards (@ULVAthletics) April 29, 2017
Jaquess's opposite number Casey Maltz (0-1) kept La Verne's bats in check for most of the game as she only gave up one run through the first five innings but couldn't quite do it for the whole game.
The Leopards loaded the bases to start the bottom of the sixth and Carly Condon smacked a bases-clearing double to give the Leopards a 4-0 lead. Rachel Ogata followed with a single to plate Condon and Schiff came through with a single of her own to set the stage for Kendricks.
Deguzman, Ogata and Haley Gomez each collected two hits. Condon and Kendricks each drove in three runs.
Summer Smith had the lone hit of the game for Redlands.
Before the games, the Leopards celebrated the careers of their two seniors Jaquess and Schiff with a brief pregame ceremony.
More information on the SCIAC Postseason Tournament will be available on Monday.
