WHITTIER, Calif. - After a week of practice, the Cal Lutheran softball team returned to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play on the road today facing Whittier for two and falling twice to split the season series 2-2 with the Poets.
WC def. CLU 9-1 (6 innings)
The lone CLU run of game one came on a solo homerun from senior Blake Lewis in the top of the fourth inning. Overall, the Regals collected just five hits with Hannah Brown striking for two of them and Andrea Brackpool and Courtney Sooy notching the others. B. Lewis also drew the only walk of the game for the Violet and Gold. During a tough day in the field for the visiting team, Cal Lutheran committed five errors. In the circle, Sooy (8-7) was tagged with the loss, allowing nine runs, though just five were earned, in 5.1 innings. She struck out a pair.
WC def. CLU 9-2
In the final meeting of the spring between the teams, the score was tied 1-1 after an inning and a half, but WC broke the flood gates open in the bottom of the second with four runs and it was too large of a gap for the Regals to overcome. Olivia Leyva was 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in one of the two CLU runs. She was the only player with a multi-hit game in a contest that the Violet and Gold combined for seven hits, all singles. H. Brown and B. Lewis scored the two runs for Cal Lutheran. Alyssa Anderson (0-1) got the start and lasted 2.0 innings before handing the ball to Nicole White-Madolora for the next four frames. Each allowed five hits and they surrendered five and four runs, respectively, and struck out one. At the plate, both pitchers had a hit.
Notables: The Regals and Poets spilt their season series with CLU winning both games at home and Whittier doing the same. The teams are back-to-back in the SCIAC standings after WC leapfrogged past Cal Lutheran with the sweep today. CLU remains in contention for a spot in the 2016 SCIAC Postseason Tournament the first weekend of May. Today was the first start career start for Anderson.
Up Next: Cal Lutheran (11-14, 5-9 SCIAC) hosts Pomona-Pitzer in a makeup doubleheader tomorrow, Sunday, April 10 at noon on Hutton Field.
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