LOS ANGELES — The Occidental College softball team hosted Chapman for its first SCIAC doubleheader on Saturday at Bell Field. Despite recording 16 hits on the day, the Tigers fell 6-2 in Game 1 and 7-3 in Game 2 due to an offense that left 14 runners on base and a defense that committed five errors which allowed for five unearned runs on the afternoon.

In Game 1, the teams each pushed one runner across in the first inning. Meghan Luera (Pasadena) hit a single to center field that drove in Ali Goldberg (Los Altos) in the Tiger frame and moved Jacqueline Shimamoto (Santa Clarita) to second. Luera also batted in Golberg again in the fifth, giving Luera (2 for 4) the Tigers' only two Game 1 RBIs and Goldberg (1 for 3) both Oxy runs scored. Mariah Montgomery (Riverside), who went 1 for 2, helped the offense by setting up both Tiger runs with sacrifice bunts.

Chapman countered in the top of the second with three runs and tacked on two more in the sixth to ice the contest. Brittany Vacura (Elk Grove) was the victim of her own team's errors, as she picked up her first loss of the season despite giving up only one earned run and striking out two in 3.1 innings of work. Amber Garland came on in her relief, giving up seven hits and two earned runs in 3.2 innings in the circle.  

The Panthers came out swinging in Game 2, knocking the Tigers for one run in the first and six in the second to close in on the mercy rule. Oxy didn't push a runner across home plate until the bottom of the fifth when Shimamoto singled up the middle, advancing Montgomery to second and scoring Goldberg.

Goldberg was the heroine of the fifth inning, retiring the Panthers in order by tracking down three fly balls in left — the first of which was a sliding grab — in the top half before scoring her run in the bottom of the frame. Shimamoto later hit a two-RBI double in the seventh, plating Jerika Barron (Half Moon Bay) and Patricia Phillimeano (Roseville) as the Tigers looked for a late-game rally.

Shimamoto's (2 for 3) extra-base hit was one of three Game 2 doubles for Oxy along with Montgomery (3 for 4) and Julia Nicholson (Upland), whose lone hit of day nearly sailed out of the park before bouncing off the top of the left field wall and falling back into play.

Due to Chapman's offensive firepower, Occidental head coach Ali Haehnel was forced to throw four arms in Game 2. Goldberg got the start and eventually the loss after being chased off the mound after a short outing that entailed four hits, two walks and two earned runs. Garland came on in relief of Golberg in an attempt to get out of a jam in the second, but instead got knocked around for five hits and three earned runs in just 0.1 inning. Kathleen McLain went 1.2 and Vacura pitched the final four innings, striking out four and taming the Panther bats by not allowing any runs.

The Tigers (3-3, 0-2 SCIAC) host Lewis & Clark in a doubleheader on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.