CMS Softball Shuts Out Pomona-Pitzer Twice, Earns Share of Regular Season Title

CLAREMONT, Calif. - First-year pitchers Hannah Adams and Maya Loper threw back-to-back shutouts as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball team had an unlikely surge into a share of the SCIAC regular season title on the final day of the regular season on Saturday.

With the sweep, CMS moved up to 14-7 in SCIAC play, and due to Chapman getting swept at La Verne, and Redlands dropping its nightcap to last-place Occidental, the Athenas ended up in a three-way tie for first place in the final league standings. CMS also had a 4-2 combined record against Chapman (3-0) and Redlands (1-2), earning it the top seed in the SCIAC Tournament. 

The Athenas were locked in a 0-0 tie with the Sagehens in the opener, until the top of the seventh, when Rachel Sapirstein led off with a single. Ari Livi then followed with an infield single to put two runners on with one out, and Ellie Novogradac was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Maren Summers then pinch hit and drove home the first run on a grounder to short, and Emma Suh followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0, giving CMS three hits in the inning after it had just one in the first six. 

Adams then worked a 1-2-3 seventh to finish off the complete game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out two. 

In the nightcap, CMS wasted no time getting on the board, as Abby Thompson had an RBI double to plate Suh in the top of the first. The score held 1-0 until the sixth, when Sapirstein lined out for a sacrifice fly to bring home Suh again. 

Loper allowed just four hits and struck out seven to match Adams with a second shutout. 

CMS will host Pomona-Pitzer, which finished as the No. 4 seed, again on Friday in the opening round of the SCIAC Tournament.