![Jade Johnson won all three games of the series (photo by Abbie Bobeck)](/sports/bsb/2023-24/photos/IMG_0085_rotatoralt.jpg)
CMS Softball Comes Back in Nightcap to Sweep Two from Whittier
WHITTIER, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball team rallied from a 4-0 deficit to pick up its fifth SCIAC win in its final at-bat with a 9-6 victory over Whittier in the nightcap of a road doubleheader on Saturday, after taking the opening game 5-0.
With the sweep, CMS moves to 21-9 and maintains its hold on first place in the SCIAC at 12-3. Jade Johnson threw a shutout in the opener and picked up the win in relief in the nightcap, winning all three games in the circle this weekend after also winning a 3-1 home game yesterday. Whittier slips to 13-15 overall and 3-10 in the league with the losses.
In the opening game, CMS scored five times in the first, capped off by a two-run homer from Jacqueline Solomon, and that was all the scoring in the entire contest, as Johnson scattered four hits to move to 8-1 on the season. Rachel Sapirstein plated the first run with a single to right, Madison Gonzalez singled up the middle to drive home the second, and Sarah Loper had a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 before Solomon's round-tripper.
Giselle Lai gunned out a runner at the plate from center field in the second to preserve the shutout, and then Johnson retired 15 of the last 17 batters, allowing only a single in the fourth and a single in the sixth, with neither runner advancing past first. Lai and Sapirstein were each 2-for-3 in the opener for the Athenas.
In the nightcap, Whittier struck for four runs in the first, and Johnson was brought on in relief after throwing a complete game a half hour earlier. CMS was able to get back within 4-2 with an Ellie Novogradac RBI single in the second and a Lai RBI single in the third.
Destiny Garcia had an RBI triple in the fifth to close the deficit to 5-3, and then came home on a Sapirstein RBI single. Whittier got one of the runs back in the fifth, but CMS tied it in the sixth on a Whittier error and a Garcia RBI single.
CMS had previously won four games in their final at-bat, including three seventh-inning comebacks (over La Verne, Occidental and Cal Lutheran) and a 5-4 win over La Verne on a run in the bottom of the sixth. The Athenas did it again, as Madison Gonzalez led off with a single, and after Novogradac moved two runners up with a sacrifice, two runners came home on a throwing error, and Maya Loper tacked on a squeeze bunt for a 9-6 lead.
Johnson retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh, her 14th inning of work on the day, getting two ground outs around a pop up to end it.
Four Athenas had two-hit games, as Lai was 2-for-3, Sapirstein and Gonzalez were each 2-for-4, and Garcia was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Johnson threw 6.2 innings, allowing five hits and two runs to complete her 3-0 weekend.
CMS will be back in action next weekend for a three-game series with Pomona-Pitzer, including a road game on Friday and a home doubleheader on Saturday.