THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On a gorgeous Saturday at Hutton Field, the Cal Lutheran softball team hosted Occidental in the second Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) series of the season between the teams. It was the second straight day of league play for the Regals who rallied for a 12-10 game two victory to cap a sweep after stealing the first game from the Tigers 4-3.
Cal Lutheran hit .404 as a team today with 16 runs on 23 hits, which included nine doubles and a homerun.
Courtney Sooy (12-9) earned both wins after tossing a complete first game and the final 2.2 of the second to total 9.2 innings. She struck out three and allowed seven runs on 14 hits. Sooy also led the offense with a 3-for-4 day at the plate that included a pair of doubles, three RBIs and a run.
At the plate, Olivia Leyva notched a 4-for-6 day with two doubles and a homerun, while drawing a walk, for nine total bases. She drove in a pair and scored three runs. Mikaela Mayhew also batted .500 today with three hits, an RBI and two runs. Amanda Lewis drove in three and scored twice and Hannah Brown crossed the plate a trio of times as well as both collected two hits. As pinch runners in the bottom of the sixth in game two, Scarlett Pettine and Makenna Pellerin each scored for CLU.
The Regals struck first in the opening game with an RBI single down the line from Sooy that plated Leyva who doubled to the right centerfield gap before stealing third in the inning.
Occidental used small ball to put a runner in scoring position and a two-out single up the middle knotted the score.
After the Tigers took a 2-1 lead on a solo homerun to center from Madison Rome in the top of the fourth, Cal Lutheran responded in the bottom of the fifth when Taylor Beacham found grass for a two-RBI single and Blake Lewis drove in another to put the Regals on top 4-2.
Oxy clawed back within one on a no-doubt-about-it solo shot to dead center off the bat of Bailey Stevens in the next frame, but the Regals would put the game in the books when Sooy forced a fly ball to A. Lewis in left field to end things.
In game two, CLU jumped out to a 4-0 advantage on three hits and an Oxy error and a Leyva homerun extended the gap to 5-1 after three. Unfortunately for the Violet and Gold, Occidental responded by putting up crooked numbers of two, three and four runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, respectively, to take a commanding 10-6 lead.
A gritty Cal Lutheran group dug deep and sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the frame, collecting eight hits with five consecutive doubles from A. Lewis, Blake Lewis, Andrea Brackpool, Leyva and Sooy with Sooy's representing the winning RBI and Monique Ramirez promptly drove in an insurance run with a single to left.
The final half inning was 1-2-3 for the Violet and Gold. After a fielding miscue opener the top of the seventh, a fly ball to center followed and a line drive at Rapisardi turned into a double play ball as she picked off the runner at first to end the game.
Earlier this spring the teams split at Occidental.
Cal Lutheran (15-20, 9-15 SCIAC) returns to Hutton Field for the final home series of the spring on Friday, April 29 against La Verne. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. with the second contest to follow before senior recognitions round out the day after game two.
Box Score: CLU 4, OXY 3
Box Score: CLU 12, OXY 10
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