Lauren Richards Earns Second SCIAC Pitcher of the Week Honor for CMS Softball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - For the second time this season, freshman Lauren Richards has earned the SCIAC Softball Pitcher of the Week Award, the league office announced this afternoon.

In fact, it was the third week in a row that the Athenas have earned the honor. Richards captured it two weeks ago after not allowing an earned run in a 3-1 complete-game win over Chapman, while senior Chloe Amarilla won it last weekend after allowing two hits over 6.1 innings in a win over Cal Lutheran. 

Richards earns it for the second time this week after playing a huge role in a doubleheader sweep of No. 11 Pomona-Pitzer on Friday in a battle for first place in the SCIAC. Both teams came in with 4-0 league records, while Pomona-Pitzer was 7-0-1 overall, including a win and a tie against No. 4 Linfield. 

Richards ended up winning both games of the doubleheader as the Athenas moved to 6-0 in the SCIAC with two narrow wins. She came on in relief in the top of the tenth inning of the opener, with the game moving to the international tiebreaker rule with a runner place on second. She worked out of that inning without allowing the inherited runner to score, and then earned the win when CMS won the game in the bottom of the tenth inning on a two-out RBI single from sophomore Megan Perron. 

In the nightcap, Richards took the ball for the start and ended up with a complete-game, four-hit shutout to complete the doubleheader sweep. The Athenas won the tight contest 2-0, with the tie not broken until the bottom of the sixth inning, when sophomore Maddie Valdez homered over the left-center field fence. Richards improved to 4-0 with a 0.00 ERA in SCIAC games this season, including two complete-game shutouts. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday for another big SCIAC doubleheader at 12 p.m. against La Verne.