CMS Softball Sweeps Doubleheader from North Central

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win the first game 5-4, and then had four pitchers combine on a shutout as it took the nightcap 2-0 in a doubleheader sweep of North Central on Friday afternoon at Athena Field.

With the wins, CMS moves to 8-3 on the season, while North Central falls to 1-8 with the two losses. 

The Cardinals jumped out quick to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but the Athenas were able to score four in the third, as Rachel Sapirstein drove home the tying run to make it 3-3 with an RBI single to center, and Ari Livi then had a sacrifice fly to put CMS in front to stay. 

The Athenas tacked on some insurance in the fourth inning as Emma Suh tripled to right and then came home on an RBI double from Destiny Garcia. The Cardinals closed to within 5-4 in the fifth, but starting pitcher Heather Shipley finished off the complete game by retiring the final seven batters in order, earning 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to deny any comeback hopes. 

Suh finished 3-for-4 in the opening game, while Sapirstein was 2-for-3 and Garcia was 2-for-4. 

CMS went with a different approach in the nightcap, by using four different pitchers after having last weekend's doubleheaders rained out and trying to get everyone on the staff some work. Paige Zimmerman started and threw the first two innings, Hannah Adams threw the third and fourth, Jade Johnson threw the fifth and sixth, and Maya Loper finished it off in the seventh to get the save. 

The game stayed 0-0 until the bottom of the fifth, when Abby Thompson put down a perfect squeeze bunt to bring home the first run, and Sapirstein followed with a single to shortstop. Suh and Sapirstein were both 2-for-3 in the nightcap, as they both had multi-hit games in both ends of the doubleheader. 

Johnson earned the win, and Loper had two strikeouts in the seventh for the save. Zimmerman did not allow a hit in her two innings of woek, and Adams allowed just one while striking out two. 

CMS will be back in action on Sunday when it takes on Williams in a 12 p.m. doubleheader.