LA VERNE, Calif. — Raeleen Tellez delivered a walk-off suicide squeeze in the bottom of the seventh inning to propel the University of La Verne softball team to a 4-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Campus West.

In the nightcap, Hayley Jaquess fired a two-hit shutout to lead the Leopards to a 9-0 win in five innings.

La Verne improves to 20-9 overall and 16-3 in the SCIAC. Pomona-Pitzer falls to 9-21 and 6-11.

Game 1: La Verne 4, Pomona-Pitzer 3

The Leopards trailed, 3-1, heading into the bottom of the seventh but tied the game with an RBI single by Sienna Kendricks and a wild pitch with runners on second and third.

Then with one out, La Verne coach Julie Smith called for the bunt. Kendricks took off from third base as Liz Rodarte (5-8) made her pitch and Tellez dropped one perfectly in front of the pitcher.

Rodarte kept the Leopards hitless through five and a third innings before Rachel Ogata lined one to center field to spark La Verne's rally. Ogata came around to score on a single by Mackenzie Dutton to tie the game at 1-1.

The Sagehens immediately reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh. With two on an one out, Emily Rockhill smacked a double to right center and Sofia Baig laced one to right to put the Sagehens back up, 3-1.

But the Leopards answered right back as they started the bottom of the seventh with a single, a walk and another single.

Katherine Kibbe (11-4) picked up a complete game win while giving up two earned runs and striking out four.

Rodarte took the loss as she gave up four runs on five hits.

Game 2: La Verne 9, Pomona-Pitzer 0

The Leopards pushed across two runs in the second inning -- all the runs it needed as Jaquess pitched a shutout -- but the offense exploded for seven runs in the fourth inning to invoke the run rule.

Jaquess (8-3) did not give up a hit until the fourth inning and struck out two to pick up her eighth win of the season. She has now thrown two five-inning shutouts in a row.

Tellez broke the scoring cap with an RBI single in the bottom of the second and Condon added a run with a sacrifice fly.

All seven runs in the bottom of the fourth came with two outs. With runners on second and third, Condon reached on an error to give the Leopards a 3-0 lead. Baltazar was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, Dutton drew a walk and the Leopards came up with three straight hits to put the game away.

Angelica DeAngelo led all players with two hits.

Up next

The Leopards travel to Whittier for a doubleheader starting at noon.