Poets lose twice to Redlands, remain two back of fourth in SCIAC standings

REDLANDS, Calif. - The Whittier College softball team lost both games of its doubleheader against the University of Redlands on Friday afternoon, 9-1 and 11-3, to remain two games out of fourth place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings.

The top four teams qualify for the SCIAC playoff and the Poets (22-16, 9-13 SCIAC) need a twin bill sweep of third-place Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to secure the final spot. Cal Lutheran was swept by La Verne this afternoon to keep the Poets alive.

WC was hit hard by the Bulldogs as Redlands scored eight runs in the first two innings of Game 1. Redlands collected 11 hits and ended the game with a homerun in the fifth inning to put UR up by eight runs.

The Poets totaled six hits in the first game led by Kellie Canida who went 3-for-3 with a run scored. Mary Pacheco went 2-for-3 with an RBI double and Dyan Acevedo added the final hit for the purple and gold.

Whittier didn't fare much better in the second game as Redlands again jumped out to an 8-0 lead through two innings. The Poets were able to push one run across in the third inning but the Bulldogs continued to hit the ball well and scored two more runs in its half of the third.

The Poets had seven hits in Game 2; two of which were homeruns. Mary Pacheco and Nicole Acevedo each had round trippers and combined for three RBIs.