ORANGE, Calif. – Miranda Murphy caught fire at the plate as the Chapman University softball teams split a SCIAC doubleheader with Redlands. The Panthers fell 3-2 in the first game but bounced back with a 9-1 victory in the second game to pick up their first SCIAC win. Chapman is now 10-8 on the season and 1-2 in SCIAC games.
Murphy reached base in every plate appearance of the doubleheader, going 7-for-7 on the day with a walk. She had four extra base hits with three doubles and a triple while driving in three RBIs and scoring three more times.
Game 1 – L, 3-2
Murphy went 4-for-4 as she scored the Panthers first run and drove in the other. She was just three feet shy of hitting for the cycle with a pair of doubles, a triple and a single in the game.
Murphy's leadoff triple in the first inning was followed by a run-scoring single from Jojo Westerfield to give Chapman a 1-0 lead. Murphy doubled in another run in the second to put the Panthers up 2-0.
Simi Lauwers took a no-hitter into the fourth but the Bulldogs used a pair of hits to manufacture a pair of runs to tie the game. Chapman had a runner on base in every inning with 11 hits but couldn't push across the go-ahead run. With a triple, a single and a double in the game. Murphy came up in the sixth and sent a long fly ball to right center. Her hit landed at the base of the fence and a perfect Redlands relay caught her at third base to end the inning.
In the seventh, Jenay Scott took off from second on a slow grounder to short and motored around third to beat the throw from first home for the go-ahead run for Redlands. Ilianna Serna followed in the seventh for Chapman and hit a long fly ball to left field with a runner on first base. The fly ball was caught against the fence to keep Redlands in front and eventually preserve the win.
Game 2 – W, 9-1 (6 innings)
Serna hit a grand slam in the first inning and the Panthers continued to pull away for the run-rule victory. After an unearned run scored in the top of the first, the first three Panther batters reached to start the bottom half of the inning. Serna, who was denied a walk off home run in left field, smacked another high fly ball to left. With the let fielder racing to her left, the ball tipped off her glove and over the fence for a grand slam and a 4-1 Chapman lead.
Another pair of runs scored after a Redlands throwing error in the second and Murphy doubled in another run in the third. A Murphy single in the fifth made it 8-1 and Mia Reyes ended the game in the sixth when she slapped a bloop single into left to score Katie Miyasato from second base.
The Chapman bats lit up with 17 hits as nine different Panthers recorded at least one hit in the game. Rose Malen backed up her offense with a superb effort in the circle. Malen struck out seven through six innings, allowing just the one unearned run on five hits.
The Panthers are slated to play Whittier on Monday in another SCIAC doubleheader.
