Softball Takes Three of Four

The Pomona-Pitzer softball team came out fighting in their second to last weekend of SCIAC play, sweeping the Occidental Tigers and splitting with the Whittier Poets.

Melanie Gularte (PI ’10) took the mound for the Sagehens in game one of their series against Occidental College. Gularte pitched all seven innings, allowing four hits and keeping the Tigers scoreless. On offense, the Sagehens' Arianna Roach (PI ’12) led off the bottom of the first with a double and later scored on an RBI single from Alexis Garcia (PI ’12). Although the Sagehens out-hit the Tigers, they were unable to score until the fourth inning when Mackenzie Smith (PO ’09) started off a rally with a one-out single. Ali Corley (PO ’11) then doubled advancing Smith to third base. Leanna Guillermo (PI ’09) came through with an RBI single to put the Sagehens up 2-0. Neither team scored for the remainder of the game and Pomona-Pitzer took the win, 2-0.

In game two, the Sagehens again scored first, rallying in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI double from Garcia to score Allison Ritter (PI ’11). Christine Calderon (PO ’09) and Corley then hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to score Smith and Garcia. The Tigers fought back, scoring two runs in the third with hits from the middle of their line up to bring them within one run.

Occidental tied the game at three in the fifth inning and pulled ahead in the sixth. The Sagehens led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double from Gularte. She scored on an RBI single from Calderon to tie the game at four. Corley then hit a walk-off single scoring Roach and giving the Sagehens and Gularte their second win of the day, 5-4.

On Saturday, the Sagehens faced Whittier College. In game one both teams came out hitting, with the Poets collecting fourteen hits and the Sagehens scattering twelve in the seven-inning game. It was Whittier that was able to get the key hits, scoring eight runs in seven innings. Pomona-Pitzer’s balls began to drop for hits in the seventh inning when Roach, Smith, and Calderon all singled to load the bases, and Guillermo singled to drive in Roach. It was not enough and the Poets took game one, 8-1.

The Sagehens came out in game two determined to gain a split with the Poets. Smith took the mound for Pomona-Pitzer and would prove to be dominant, allowing only four hits and preventing any Poets from crossing the plate. Although the Sagehens were again able to drive the ball well, with ten hits, they were only able to score once. In the second inning, Guillermo and Emily Buika (PI ’12) led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Roach then singled to score Buika and put the Sagehens up 1-0. Smith held the Poets at bay the rest of the game and the Sagehens took their third win of the weekend 1-0.