Athenas Take First Place in SCIAC
The CMS Athenas seized first place in SCIAC on Saturday with an on-the-road double-header sweep of the University of Redlands Bulldogs.
To set up the showdown on Saturday, the Athenas swept Pomona-Pitzer Friday afternoon.
Pacing all hitters were usual suspects Gizelle Pera (JR, Los Angeles, [pictured left]) and Harmony Palmer (FR, Oceanside, [pictured right]). Friday against Pomona-Pitzer, they put up extraordinary numbers with Pera going 5 for 6, with 4 runs and 3 RBIs, while Palmer went 6 for 8, with 2 runs and 4 RBIs. Together, the two combined for an astounding 11 for 14, scoring 6 and driving in seven.
At Redlands on Saturday, the duo went 8 for 14, scoring 6 runs and delivering 10 RBIs. Pera hammered out a double and 2 triples on a day that saw her bat .667. Palmer, belted out a double and 2 towering home runs. This was the second outing in as many weeks during which the freshman phenom crushed two out of the yard. Just 14 days earlier, she thwacked two against Occidental, one of them her first collegiate grand slam.
Megan Morris (SO, Ridgewood, NJ) went 7 for 11 crossing home plate 4 times over the weekend. This included career numbers at Redlands on Saturday where she went 6 for 7 with 3 runs scored and an RBI. The scrappy speedster ignited the bottom of the line-up against the Bulldogs, as impressive game two totals came in at: 7 for 10, 5 runs and 3 RBIs from the 7, 8, 9 hitters.
Offensive production for the weekend tallied out at CMS 49-18 in hits, 30-3 in runs scored.
Defensively, the squad committed only two errors in four games. Fans were treated to several web-gems, among them right-fielder Gizelle Pera “pulling one back” at the fence to rob Sagehen Alyssa Corley of a home run.
In the circle, sophomore Amanda Banducci (SO, San Mateo, [pictured center]) threw a near perfect game against Pomona-Pitzer Friday. Recording her first no-hitter this season, were it not for two walks given up, the sophomore would have accomplished the exalted perfect game.
She promptly followed Friday’s performance with a five hit, 1 run shut-down of the five time champion Bulldogs in Saturday’s first game. In game two, Banducci pitched the first three innings, limiting Redlands to 2 runs before passing the torch to Emma Friedenberg (SO, Danville) in the fourth.
Friedenberg, coming off of a strong, five hit shut-out performance against Pomona-Pitzer Friday, closed out the night-cap sweep of the Bulldogs, scattering just 3 hits while shutting out the Bulldogs in the six inning, 10-2, run-rule victory. Veteran Katerina Yale (JR, Yorba Linda) hit her stride at a great time batting .333 on the weekend, while scoring 4 times and driving in 3 runs.