Athenas fight back but unable to defend SCIAC Tournament title

Whittier, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball team made a valiant run in the final day of the SCIAC Tournament on May 2 at Whittier College's Palmer Field. The Athenas needed to win three games in a row and came up just short of repeating as SCIAC Tournament champion.

Game 1: CMS 9, Cal Lutheran 1 – Box Score

After losing 1-0 to Whittier on the first day of the tournament, the Athenas were pitted against Cal Lutheran in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Olivia Leyva smacked a solo homer in the top of the first inning to put the Regals on the board. Ultimately that was the only run and one of just two hits in the game for CLU.

CMS answered in the bottom of the first. Junior Tara Robinson (CMC) led off with a bunt single as she has done so often during the season and then scored on a Katie Savard (CMC) single.

The Athenas put another run up in the third inning. This time, freshman right fielder Carly Roleder (CMC) drove in Robinson. In each of CMS' scoring innings so far, freshman Elaine Wang (CMC) put down a textbook sacrifice bunt to advance Robinson into scoring position.

CMS scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, pushing the score to 9-1 and securing the win with an eight run advantage after five innings. Freshman designated player Briana Halle (CMC), junior third baseman Mikayla O'Neal (CMC), and junior catcher Carlene Roberts (CMC) loaded the bases through a hit, walk and error. Sophomore Melanie Carlson (CMC) got her first pinch hit of the tournament and came through with an RBI single, kick starting the big inning for the Athenas. Wang earned two of the innings' RBIs and then Roleder hit her third homerun of the tournament. This one cleared the CMS fans' tent in left center field and was good for three RBIs. The final run of the inning came after the Athenas batted around and Halle hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Savard.

Sophomore pitcher Andrea Jewett (CMC) and the defense shut down CLU in the top of the fifth inning to end the game in just under an hour and half. This was Jewett's fourth-five inning mercy rule game and 11^th win of the season.

Robinson, Roleder, Savard and Halle each had two hits in the 9-1 win over Cal Lutheran.

With the win, Cal Lutheran was eliminated and CMS advanced to the first championship game of the tournament. Coming from the losers bracket, CMS needed to beat Whittier twice for the tournament title.

Championship Game 1: CMS 1, Whittier 0 – Box Score

The 1-0 win vs. Whittier in the 1:30 p.m. game was CMS' first victory over the Poets, the SCIAC regular season champions.

From the very first pitch, playoff atmosphere was tangible at Palmer Field.

The Athenas started knocking in the second inning when sophomore center fielder Alexa Heydenberk (CMC) and Savard led off the inning with back-to-back singles. The Athenas were unable to advance a runner into scoring position just once more during the game, in the sixth inning.

Junior left fielder Shannon O'Neill (CMC) led off the inning with a gutsy double to left field. O'Neill advanced to third with a sacrifice bunt by Robinson and then scored on a grounder to the short stop by Wang. That was the only score of the game as the Athenas came out on top of this contest.

The only time freshman pitcher Anna Gurr (CMC) pitched to Whittier's Marialena Ahern was in the second inning and Roleder made a leaping catch at the fence in right field for the first out of the inning.

Gurr earned her 13^th win on the season and fourth shutout.

Championship Game 2: Whittier 6, CMS 4 – Box Score

With each team at one loss in the tournament, the "if necessary" championship game was the deciding game for which team would receive the automatic qualification from the SCIAC to the NCAA Tournament.

The Athenas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off another long ball. For CMS' fourth homer of the tournament, Savard went yard over dead center field for three quick runs.

CMS tacked on another unanswered run in the second inning with a single by Wang down the left field line to score O'Neal.

Whittier punched back in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Alyse Gutierrez to make the score 4-1.

The Poets battled again in the fifth inning, tying the game at 4-4. Samantha Mellano and Mecedez Cundiff had the RBIs for Whittier in that inning.

Both seniors, Mellano and Cundiff came up big for the Poets in the top of the seventh inning. Just when the game was looking to go into extra innings, Mellano and Cundiff hit back-to-back homers with two outs to give Whittier the 6-4 advantage.

The Athenas did not muster a comeback in the bottom of the frame and Whittier won the SCIAC Tournament Title. All six of WC's runs were earned.

CMS finishes the season with a 27-14 record after having been tied for second place in the regular season.

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