ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University softball team split a doubleheader with visiting Ithaca College on Thursday with both teams winning 8-1. Ithaca took the first game and Chapman took the second game to move to 10-8 on the year.

Game 1 – L, 8-1

A four-run fifth broke open a close game as the Panthers fell to Ithaca. Senior Amber Perez was 2-for-2 in the game with a walk to lead the Panthers.

The Panthers had a couple of early chances but stranded four runners on base in the first two innings as the game remained scoreless. Sophomore Emily Claudy cruised through the first two innings but the Bombers were the first to get on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the third. Chapman committed its first of five errors in the game in the inning to allow the two unearned runs to come home.

Junior Kristen Weiser got one back for the Panthers in the bottom half of the inning with a long double that short-hopped the fence in left field, scoring freshman Samantha Tong.

Ithaca manufactured another run in the fourth and Abby Smith's two-run triple highlighted the four-run fifth that made it 7-1. An insurance run came across in the seventh.

Game 2 – W, 8-1

The Panthers turned the table in game two with an 8-1 victory, highlighted by a five-run fifth. Freshman Michaela Foisy led the Panthers at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Fellow freshmen Vanessa Gilles and Kyra Gallego also had multi-hit games with Gallego driving in two.

Sophomore Samantha Whalen had a stellar outing in the circle. She got the complete game win, allowing just five hits and issuing just one walk with two strikeouts.

Gilles put the Panthers on the board with an RBI single in the first. After Ithaca tied up the game in the fourth, Foisy put the Panthers right back on top with an RBI-single in the bottom half.

Chapman loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth and Gallego delivered a two-run single to make it 4-1 Panthers. Freshman Christine LoVerde's sacrifice fly made it 5-1 and Foisy smacked a two-run double to balloon the lead up to 7-1.

Perez added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to cap the scoring.

Chapman stays home this weekend to take on first-place La Verne in a SCIAC doubleheader starting at noon.

by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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