The University of La Verne split a pair of contests on the opening day of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament in Redlands. The Leopards started the day by upending top-seed Redlands 5-2 before falling to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 3-0 in the winner's bracket game.
As a result of the La Verne split and subsequent win by Redlands over Chapman in the first elimination contest, the Leopards and Bulldogs will face each other Saturday in the second elimination game of the tourney on Saturday.
Both La Verne and CMS registered seven hits in their contests, but the Leopards were unable to score off Athena starting pitcher Hayley Schultz, who went the distance in striking out four. The Athenas pushed across a pair of runs in the first inning on a two-run double from Mikayla O'Neal, and added a run in the fifth on an RBI single from Katie Savard.
Raven Freret led the Leopard offense with a 3-4 performance at the plate.
Against the Bulldogs, the Leos wasted little time in getting on the board with two runs on two hits in the top of the first inning.
With one out, Breeanna De La Rosa walked and was followed by Freret, who delivered a single to place runners on first and second. A walk to Katherine Kibbe loaded the bases for Jackie Duran, who reached on a fielder's choice, allowing De La Rosa to score on a Bulldog throwing error. The Leos added a second run on a Rachel Hong infield single to score Kibbe for a 2-0 lead.
La Verne boosted its lead to 5-0 in the fourth, benefitting from three Redlands errors in the frame. Two consecutive throwing errors by the Bulldogs put along with a single from Vela loaded the bases. The next two batters - De La Rosa and Freret - each drove in runs as the Bulldogs failed to force plays on consecutive grounders. Duran added a run for the Leopards with an RBI single to drive in Vela.
Redlands pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. The first three Bulldog batters reached on a pair of singles and hit-by-pitch to load the bases. La Verne then induced a 1-2-3 double play to keep Redlands off the board, but a throwing error on the next play scored two runners and allowed the Bulldogs to cut the gap to 5-2.
Leopard reliever Rachel Hong held the Bulldogs in check over the final two innings, posting strikeouts to turn back a Redlands uprising in the sixth before retiring the home team in the seventh to secure the victory.
Kibbe earned the victory as the Leopard starter, yielding two runs in five innings of work.
La Verne and Redlands will face off in an 11:00 am start. The winner will need to knock off CMS twice to capture the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
