LA VERNE — It's not often that a pitcher carries a no-hitter into the final inning and is tagged with a loss at the end of the contest. The Occidental College softball team had something to say about that in La Verne on Saturday afternoon enroute to its first SCIAC victory of the 2013 campaign.

The Leopards' Rachel Hong entered the circle in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the doubleheader with her team up 1-0 and just one blemish on her stat line — a walk given up to Ashley Noone (Orange) in the top of inning number two.

But, after hitting Ali Goldberg (Los Altos) with one out recorded in the final frame, Hong would have her hopes of both the no-hitter and the win dashed.

On the ensuing at-bat, Jacqueline Shimamoto (Santa Clarita) broke up the no-hitter with an infield single, putting Goldberg on second as the potential tying run and herself on first to represent the winning run. Noone then grounded into a fielder's choice that cut Goldberg down at third and left Shimamoto at second and Noone at first.

Down to their final out, the Tigers sent Kristine Kocjan (Redwood City) to the plate. She came through for her squad in the clutch, hitting a 2-RBI double that scored both Shimamoto and Noone and put Oxy up by what would go on to be the final score of 2-1.

"It was clutch," Occidental head coach Ali Haehnel said. "It was awesome. [Kocjan] had been seeing the ball well all day and hitting it hard right at people. So it was nice to see her place one just right."

Amber Garland (Torrance) picked up the win in the circle, closing out her own complete game by getting out of a tight spot with runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh. Though Garland scattered nine hits in the contest, she allowed just the lone earned run. 

"Amber was lights out today," Haehnel said. "She hit her spots really well, stayed composed and her curveball was extremely effective."

The Game 2 victory was key for the Tigers, especially after falling to La Verne 1-0 in Game 1 in another hard-fought pitching duel. Brittany Vacura (Elk Grove) took her start into the final inning, striking out six and allowing four hits, two walks and no earned runs through 6.2 innings of work.

"Brittany pitched a gem and we played good defense behind her," Haehnel said. "We just could get timely hits. We had runners in scoring position more than [La Verne], we just couldn't bring them in."

However, due to two fielding errors and a walk, she got into a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the final frame. Leopard shortstop Danielle Vela singled through the right side, scoring Candice Nunez to capture the contest 1-0.

La Verne's pitching staff held Occidental to just two hits in Game 1, both singles off the bats of Shimamoto and Meghan Luera (Pasadena), respectively.

The Tigers (6-8, 1-5 SCIAC) travel to Cal Lu next Saturday for a doubleheader at noon and 2 p.m.