CMS Softball Has Six Named to All-SCIAC Teams, Earns SCIAC Coaching Staff of Year Award
CLAREMONT, Calif. - Jacqueline Solomon and Abby Thompson earned first-team All-SCIAC honors, Destiny Garcia, Maya Loper, Rachel Sapirstein and Emma Suh were selected to the second team, and Gina Oaks Garcia, Tiana Patrick, Bob Oaks and Bobby Oaks earned the SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball, the league office announced today.
Solomon earned one of the spots on the All-SCIAC first team outfield after a debut season in which she hit .307 with nine doubles. In conference games, she hit .367 with seven doubles, recording a .446 on-base percentage and a .551 slugging percentage. Her conference performances included a 3-for-3 effort against Occidental, a 2-for-2 performance against Redlands and a 3-for-4 game against La Verne.
Thompson batted .316 overall on the season with a team-high 24 runs batted in, earning a spot on the All-SCIAC first team at first base after capturing second-team honors a year ago. In conference games, her averaged jumped to .359 with two homers and 13 RBI. One of her homers broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth in a key 2-1 win over La Verne, while the other came in a five-RBI game against Occidental.
Garcia leads CMS regulars in overall batting average this season at .374, and also leads in both walks (13) and on-base percentage (.456). Loper tallied a 7-1 record in the pitching circle with a 1.76 ERA in her debut season, leading CMS with 47 strikeouts and earning a 5-1 record in conference games. Sapirstein batted .315 overall and had a strong season defensively at third base, tallying only five errors and a .961 fielding percentage. Suh ranks second on CMS in batting average (.360) and has 18 RBI from her leadoff position, twice earning the SCIAC Hitter of the Week honor this season, and was the team's Defensive Player of the Year with only four errors at second base.
The CMS coaching staff, led by fifth-year head coach Gina Oaks Garcia, led the Athenas to the top seed in the SCIAC Tournament this season after they just missed the conference tournament a year ago, ending tied for fourth and losing the tiebreaker. That leap began on the recruiting trail, with the success of the Class of 2026 having a key part in this season's success, as Solomon, Sapirstein and Loper all earned all-league honors as first-years, while Loper and fellow first-year pitcher Hannah Adams threw shutouts on Saturday to enable the Athenas to jump from fourth place to first on the final day of the regular season.
CMS will open SCIAC Tournament play on Friday as the top seed and tournament host, facing Pomona-Pitzer in an opening round game on Friday at 1 p.m. The double-elimination tournament, which also features Chapman and Redlands, will feature three games on Saturday and the championship round on Sunday for the right to earn the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.