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Jade Johnson won all three games of the series (photo by Abbie Bobeck)
Jade Johnson won all three games of the series (photo by Abbie Bobeck)

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.