REDLANDS, Calif. - Senior Chloe Amarilla had a dominant performance in the opening game, and sophomore Maddie Valdez had an equally dominant performance in the nightcap, as the No. 13 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball team took a doubleheader at Redlands by final scores of 5-0 and 11-4 on Friday afternoon.
Amarilla threw a four-hit shutout in the opening game, while batting 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI at the plate to give herself all the offensive support she would need. Valdez, meanwhile, was 3-for-3 with two homers and seven RBI in the nightcap, hitting a three-run homer in the first inning and a grand slam in the fourth to stake CMS to an 8-1 lead.
With the sweep, CMS improves to 20-5 on the season and 14-0 in the SCIAC, going through the first half of the 28-game league schedule with an unblemished record. Redlands slips to 11-15 overall and 5-9 in league play with the losses.
CMS got on the board first in the opening game in the bottom of the second inning, when sophomore shortstop Jessica Fox hit a one-out double to left-center. One out later, Amarilla drove home Fox with a single to bring in an insurance run and make the score 2-0.
In the fourth, Amarilla doubled her lead with one swing, putting a ball over the left field fence, scoring junior catcher Savannah Green, who singled with two outs to keep the inning going. Sophomore designated player Megan Perron drove in the fifth CMS run in the top of the seventh with an RBI single, scoring Amarilla, who singled and stole second.
Amarilla was working on a two-hit shutout with two outs in the seventh inning, but Redlands had back-to-back singles up the middle to put two on with two out. However, Amarilla got the following batter to fly out to sophomore Molly Spaniac in left to finish off the shutout, allowing just four singles, striking out four and walking none.
CMS wasted little time taking control of the nightcap, as Spaniac hit a one-out triple, Perron drew a walk, and Valdez followed with a homer to straightaway center field, her eighth of the season, to make it a 3-0 game before Redlands had its first time at-bat.
Each team pushed across a run in the third inning, as senior right fielder Rachel Perley had an RBI single in the visitors half, and an unearned run scored in the home half to make it a 4-1 game.
In the fourth inning, though, Valdez made sure there was no drama in the nightcap as she went yard for the second time in the contest, this time a grand slam. Amarilla started the inning with a walk, Spaniac singled, and Perron walked to load the bases. Valdez then went the other way for her ninth homer of the year and her second of the game, marking her first two-homer contest of the season.
Later in the inning, Fox added an RBI double and Perley came home on an error to make it a 10-1 lead. Redlands avoided the eight-run rule with three RBI doubles in the bottom of the fifth inning to close to within 10-4, but Amarilla had an RBI groundout in the sixth. The Athenas added eight runs in the top of the seventh, but the bottom half was unable to be completed due to darkness, so the final score reverted back to 11-4 after the last completed inning.
CMS will be back in action tomorrow for a SCIAC road doubleheader against Chapman as it begins the second half of the conference schedule.
