LA VERNE, Calif. - After being swept by Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) first place Redlands last weekend, the Cal Lutheran softball team responded with a split with La Verne Saturday. The Regals were shut-out in a game one 2-0 loss but rallied for six runs in the top of the ninth inning of game two and won 10-5.
Cal Lutheran got a stand-out pitching performance from Shonna Christianson (5-2) in game one as she went all 6.0 innings and gave up just two runs on six hits.
Unfortunately for the Regals, Christianson's counterpart Hayley Jaquess (7-4) was slightly better as she pitched 7.0 shut-out innings while allowing just five hits.
The Leopards got a run in the bottom of the first when Danielle Vela was hit by a pitch to lead-off the game and later came around to score on a Raven Freret base hit. ULV tacked on another in the bottom of the fourth when Katherine Kibbe beat out an infield hit and scored Mackenzie Dutton.
The Regals got runners into scoring position in the second and sixth but Jaquess got ground outs to end both innings.
Andrea Brackpool, Danika Green, Blake Lewis, Liz Mertel and Kayla Sakamoto had the hits for the Regals.
Cal Lutheran finally got the bats going in the third inning of game two. Sakamoto reach on a fielder's choice and then advanced on an error following a ground ball from Lewis. Following another fielder's choice, Kelly Lockwood hit a grounder to the ULV shortstop who was unable to field it and allowed Sakamoto to score. Danika Green then made the Leopards pay for their defensive blunders when she laced an RBI-single into centerfield and scored Stephanie Martello.
La Verne cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Jackie Duran had an RBI-single following two walks. The Leopards then tied the game in the bottom of the fifth after Breeanna De la Rosa walked and then was brought in on a base-knock from Kibbe.
The Regals retook the lead in the top of the seventh when it scratched across two more runs. Katelyn Downing led off the inning with a walk and then CLU had three-straight singles from Sakamoto, Lewis and Martello with two scoring runs.
CLU would get an out away in from the win in the bottom of the seventh before La Verne scored on a wild pitch and then a base hit to force extra innings.
Neither team could scratch across a run until the top of the ninth. Sakamoto tallied her second hit of the game when she singled to lead off the inning. Lewis followed that with a walk and then following a fielder's choice, Kelly Lockwood gave CLU the lead with an RBI-single through the left side. The Regals tacked on another run when Green collected her second RBI-single of the day and then later Martello scored on a wild pitch and Mertel lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Christianson.
The Leopards would get run back in the bottom of the ninth but Downing came on in relief and got the final outs for the win.
Courtney Sooy (8-4) picked up the win after pitching a season-high 8.1 innings. Sakamoto scored three runs while Green had three hits.
Cal Lutheran (17-11, 11-7 SCIAC) will have a chance at redemption as it travels to Redlands for a doubleheader with the Bulldogs on Friday, April 11. Game one's first pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
Game 1 Box Score: ULV 2 CLU 0
Game 2 Box Score: CLU 10 ULV 5 (9 innings)
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