SportsSoftball

Leos win two at home, Whitcher goes deep

Kim Schrepfer (No. 15) congratulates junior Sue Whitcher, who hit her first home run of the year during the first game of a doubleheader against Cal State Hayward on Saturday. The 3-0 shot gave ULV a 4-0 lead, which ended in a 5-1 win for the Leopards. The Leopards also won their second game of the season, 6-5, in eight innings. / photo by Juan Garcia
Kim Schrepfer (No. 15) congratulates junior Sue Whitcher, who hit her first home run of the year during the first game of a doubleheader against Cal State Hayward on Saturday. The 3-0 shot gave ULV a 4-0 lead, which ended in a 5-1 win for the Leopards. The Leopards also won their second game of the season, 6-5, in eight innings. / photo by Juan Garcia

by Amanda Stutevoss
Sports Editor

Babe Ruth once said, “The way a team plays as a whole, determines its success.” This was the case Saturday, when the University of La Verne women’s softball team defeated Cal State Hayward twice.

Junior pitching star Mandy Tillema was on the mound in game one.

Tillema held the Pioneers scoreless until the top of the seventh inning. The pioneers attempted a rally but came up short against Tillema’s dominating performance in the circle.

“Mandy dominated and we got the job done,” said junior Kim Schrepfer.

Junior Sue Whitcher had a hand in the Leopards win when she smacked a three-run homerun in the bottom of the third.

The Leopards gained their first victory of the day 5-1.

In game two, the Leopards had a hard time bouncing back from the win in game one.

With mental errors haunting them, the Leopards fell behind 4-0.

“It felt weird being in that position because we always expect to dominate our opponents,” said Schrepfer.

The Leopards stepped it up in the 4th inning when freshman Chrissy Zehrbach came in the game to relieve starting pitcher, Whitcher. Zehrbach came in and held the pioneers scoreless through 2 innings, thus propelling the women’s bats and helped the Leopards find their determination to win.

The Leopards battled back to tie the Pioneers 4-4, which sent the game into the eighth inning where the international tiebreaker would be in effect. The international tiebreaker is automatically called into action when a game goes over seven innings. A runner is given to the offensive team and is sent to second base, with no outs to start off an inning. The offense then has three outs to advance the runner home.

The Pioneers were successful in scoring one run in the top of the eighth, which put the Pioneers ahead by one.

A line drive hit from freshman Christine Paknik scored one, and a sacrifice-fly to right field from junior Gina Meza scored junior Augie Torres for the win.

“A lot of the freshman came out and did a great job,” Whitcher said.

“It was an all around team effort. Everyone stepped up. It was an overall win,” said Schrepfer.

The Leopards next game is against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Redlands. The Bulldogs were the runners-up to the Leopards last year in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

“We are all very excited about this upcoming weekend and we all feel we should do very well,” said Whitcher.

The Leopards will take on the Redlands Bulldogs at home at 2 p.m Friday.

Amanda Stutevoss
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Juan Garcia
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