ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University softball team split a pair of pitching duels with No. 12 Williams, falling 3-2 in extra innings and winning 3-0 in the second game. Jillian Kelly spun a two-hit shutout of the nationally-ranked Ephs to push the Panthers to 14-3 on the season.
Game 1 – L, 3-2
Rose Malen and Sadie Leonard traded punches through an extra inning affair before the Ephs broke through with a pair of runs in the eighth to capture the win. Leonard struck out 13 Panthers while allowing just six hits and Malen punched out seven Ephs while scattering eight hits.
The Panthers were mere inches away from a doubleheader sweep as they took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning. Miranda Murphy singled in the game's first run in the fifth inning, scoring Sam Kennedy from second.
A line drive into the right center gap turned into a leadoff double in the ninth but was followed by a fly out. Malen then popped up Aprill Medrano but a diving attempt at the pop up halfway down the line pushed the ball toward the dugout as the tying run came home from second.
Malen retired the next two hitters but the Panthers went in order in the bottom half. Williams doubled in a run in the eighth with the international tiebreaker in effect and scored an insurance run on a single from Sydney Fleming.
Morgan Lastinger singled in a run in the eighth for Chapman but the tying run was left on base as Leonard's 13th strikeout ended the game.
Game 2 – W, 3-0
Kelly was simply dominant as she struck out seven and allowed just two hits without issuing a walk in the complete game shutout. She retired eight in a row after Chapman took a 3-0 lead and both hits she allowed went off the gloves of diving fielders.
Chapman took the 3-0 lead with a three-run fourth as Jojo Westerfield smacked an RBI-single into right center to score the first run. Aleena Helms later followed with a line drive off the outstretched glove of the Williams first baseman to score two more.
Williams only hits came on a line drive in the gap off the glove of the diving Murphy in the third and a popped up bunt that fell out of the glove of a diving Ilianna Serna. Kelly was immaculate otherwise as she retired the Ephs in order in the seventh to claim the victory.
Kelly improved to 7-0 on the year in the circle as Chapman improved to 14-3. The Panthers take on No. 6 Redlands this weekend as they jump back into SCIAC play with a three-game series. The Panthers host Redlands on Friday at 3 p.m. and finish the series with a doubleheader at Redlands on Saturday at noon.
