Squeezing it out, softball earns split with Claremont
ORANGE, Calif. – A successful suicide squeeze bunt with one out in the bottom of the seventh capped a three-run rally and earned the Chapman University softball team a much-needed split with visiting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in a SCIAC doubleheader at El Camino Real Park on Saturday afternoon. After the second-place Athenas grabbed a 'run-rule' 8-0 win in five innings in Game 1, the Panthers snapped a scoreless inning streak in a big way with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in Game 2.
Game 1: Claremont 8, Chapman 0 (5 inn.)
Claremont jumped all over Chapman and pitchers Cassie Oregel and Shireen Yehya for five runs in the first inning, thanks to three bases-loaded walks and a two-run double by freshman OF Cassie Davis. The Athenas tacked on two more runs in the second inning and an unearned run in the third for the requisite eight runs for the 'mercy rule'.
The Panthers could muster just three hits against Claremont ace junior RHP Hayley Schultz, who improved to 10-2 this season. Sophomore IF Tara Robinson went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base for the Athenas.
Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2013-14/boxscores/20140405_sep1.xml
Game 2: Chapman 3, Claremont 2
Trailing 2-0 in the seventh inning and without a run to its credit in four games this season against Claremont pitching (26 consecutive scoreless innings), Chapman (18-14 overall, 11-9 SCIAC) rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh and scored the game-winner on a suicide squeeze to get the walkoff win. Freshman OF Severina Worthington sacrificed home junior DP Mindy Gibson with the game-winning run after sophomore C Lisa Perez, Gibson and freshman IF Michelle Edwards each had singled in the inning to tie the game.
A pitchers' duel that saw just three hits in the game through the first six and a half innings, Claremont (17-10 overall, 12-6 SCIAC) scored a pair of unearned runs in the fifth inning, thanks to a walk, a hit and an error. Otherwise, Chapman sophomore RHP Natalie Both held the Athenas to just two hits and struck out seven batters in seven innings. Both earned the win to improve to 7-9 this season.
Athenas' freshman RHP Kaylilani Minami was equally impressive through six, surrendering just a fourth-inning triple to Perez and a walk as the only runners to reach base against her before faltering in the seventh.
Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2013-14/boxscores/20140405_akcr.xml
The doubleheader split keeps the Panthers in the hunt for the fourth and final SCIAC Tournament berth, just one game behind third-place (tie) Cal Lutheran University and Whittier College in the conference standings with eight games to play. Chapman will travel to the University of La Verne on Friday for a doubleheader and return home on Saturday, April 12 to host first-place University of Redlands in a twin bill beginning at noon.
by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director
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