Thompson's Home Run Gives CMS Softball Nightcap Win over La Verne

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Abby Thompson hit an opposite-field home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and give the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball a 2-1 win in the nightcap and a split of a doubleheader with La Verne on Saturday at Athena Field.

With the split, CMS moves to 18-8 overall and 6-3 in the SCIAC, while La Verne moves to 16-12 and 4-7 in the SCIAC, winning the opening game 8-5 after tying it in the seventh and scoring three times in the eighth. 

CMS took a 1-0 lead in the nightcap when Jacqueline Solomon, who was 4-for-6 in the doubleheader with two doubles and a triple, put down a squeeze bunt to score pinch runner Megan Kho who ran for Thompson after the walked. 

La Verne was able to tie it in the fifth, but Maya Loper was able to escape a bases-loaded jam in the sixth after a single, walk and hit-by-pitch. That momentum carried over into the bottom half of the frame, as Thompson sent a pitch over the right field wall to break the 1-1 tie. 

Loper struck out the first batter of the seventh, but she was able to reach on a wild pitch. The Athenas, who played stellar defense throughout the doubleheader, then took over, with Solomon fielding a grounder at short and flipping to Emma Suh at second, who turned a double play. The final out was recorded as Kaili Aqui made a running catch of a line drive, adding to a defensive day in which she had a diving catch and threw a runner out at the plate. 

Loper went the distance to get the win and improve to 5-0 in the circle this season, allowing four hits and striking out three. 

In the opening game, Suh was 3-for-5 with two RBI, plating the go-ahead run with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-4, before La Verne came back. Solomon was 3-for-4 with a double and a triple in the opener. 

CMS returns to action for a three-game series with Whittier next weekend, including a home game on Friday and a doubleheader at Whittier on Saturday.