La Verne spoils 'Senior Day' for softball

ORANGE, Calif. – With nothing to lose and playing 'spoiler' on its minds, the University of La Verne softball team came into El Camino Real Park and did just that, sweeping a doubleheader from Chapman University 6-4 and 9-6 on Tuesday afternoon in its home finale. Despite the losses, the Panthers have clinched one of four berths in the SCIAC Tournament and will either be the No. 3 or 4 seed when the conference playoffs begin on May 2.

Game 1: La Verne 6, Chapman 4

The Leopards jumped on Chapman junior RHP Cassie Oregel for five runs (three earned) in the first two innings and the Panthers never recovered. Oregel would settle down after being relieved in the second inning, she returned in the fifth to toss the final three shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts, but fell to 13-6 on the season.

Trailing 6-1, Chapman rallied for a pair of unearned runs in the fourth and then got a solo homer from freshman IF Amber Perez – her second of the year – in the fifth to cut the Leopard lead to two at 6-4. The Panthers got the tying runners on base in both the fifth and sixth innings, but couldn't get any closer. Senior DP Mindy Gibson went 2-for-4 with a run scored on 'Senior Day' as she and fellow senior Megan Daugherty were honored during a pregame ceremony in the Panthers' last home games.

For La Verne (18-20 overall, 12-14 SCIAC), IF Danielle Vela went 3-for-4 and was a home run shy of the cycle with an RBI double and two runs scored.

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2013-14/boxscores/20140422_9tc1.xml

Game 2: La Verne 9, Chapman 6

Again the Panthers found themselves in a hole and couldn't climb out of it, surrendering eight runs in the fourth through seventh innings to trail 9-4 heading into their final at-bat. As it had in the fourth and fifth innings, Chapman (22-16 overall, 15-11 SCIAC) rallied for a pair of runs in seventh-inning protest and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but a liner to the pitcher off the bat of sophomore C Lisa Perez ended the game.

The Leopards tagged Chapman RHP Natalie Both for nine runs (seven earned) and 11 hits in seven innings. Chapman, which ranks second in the SCIAC with a 2.23 staff earned run average, gave up 15 runs and 21 hits in the doubleheader on Tuesday. Both finished with seven strikeouts and saw her record fall to 9-10 overall.

Junior IF Taylor Cartwright went 2-for-4 with four RBI, a two-run single in the fifth and another one in the seventh to lead the Panthers offensively. Junior OF Karina Muniz finished 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2013-14/boxscores/20140422_g2de.xml

Chapman remains in third place in the SCIAC standings and needs two more wins to clinch the No. 3 seed outright. Whittier, who currently sits in fourth, owns the tiebreaker against the Panthers having won three out of four head-to-head.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

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