Softball suffers two losses at Whittier

WHITTIER, Calif. - Senior Sidney Miller and junior Emily Borrazzo compiled three hits, respectively, for the Williams College softball team Tuesday afternoon during a pair of setbacks in a doubleheader at Whittier.

The Ephs are now 1-5 on the season, while the Poets improved to 13-9 overall and hold a 1-2 record in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).

During a 2-1 seven-inning loss in Game 1, sophomore catcher Aleks Albert went 2-of-3 batting for the Ephs. Senior captain and starting pitcher Sadie Leonard only gave up one earned run, while striking out 13 batters in six innings of work. Leonard recorded a 1-2-3 inning during the third. Bella Peinado improved to 6-4 in the circle on the season for Whittier with the complete-game victory, giving up one run and six hits in seven innings, while not walking a single batter.

First-year Haley Barrett recorded a two-out, RBI double to right-center in the top half of the first, as senior captain Alysa DeQuiroz, who singled earlier in the inning, crossed home plate with the game's first run. A one-out, RBI double to left by Kelly Nutter in the bottom half of the first evened the game at 1-1.

Nutter struck again in the fifth, tallying the game-winning double to left-center with two down, as Mariah Rodriguez scored the winning run. Williams held a 6-3 advantage in hits.

During a 15-6 five-inning setback in Game 2, Borrazzo went 3-for-3 batting, with three RBIs and one run scored, while Miller went 2 of 3 in the batter's box, with one run scored. Rodriguez finished 4-of-4 batting, with six RBIs, three runs scored, two home runs and one double. Whitter finished with 13 hits and William tallied 12.

The Ephs built a 3-0 lead in the top half of the first as a result of RBI singles by Borrazzo and first-year Annabella Rychetsky, to go along with a sacrifice fly to center by sophomore Lauren Davis. Whittier took control of the game in the bottom half of the first with a 10-run effort, highlighted by a two-run double by Tiaira Richardson and a two-run homer by Rodriguez.

Sophomore Dani Jackman tallied a one-out triple down the right-field line in the third, and then during the ensuing at-bat scored on an RBI single to right by Borrazzo. With two outs in the inning, Borrazzo scored on an RBI single by sophomore Aprill Medrano. Barrett crossed home in the fourth on a one-run single to center by Borrazzo, but one run in the second and four more in the fourth allowed Whittier to close out the victory.

The Ephs will compete against California Lutheran University in a doubleheader Wednesday, with game times set for noon and 2 p.m. Pacific Time on Hutton Field in Thousand Oaks, California.