Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 By Michael Wells
Sports Information Director
CLAREMONT — As the saying goes, "it's better late than never."
After a solid start to the 2013 season, the Occidental College softball team fell into a bit of a rut, struggling to find wins in a conference with a handful of nationally ranked opponents.
But riding the momentum of a big win over Whittier 7-5 in their Senior Day home finale on Friday, the Tigers swept Pomona-Pitzer in a doubleheader in Claremont on Saturday, ending their season on a three-game winning streak.
Oxy used a four-run rally to beat the Sagehens 6-1 in Game 1 and squeaked out a 5-4 win in Game 2.
Brittany Vacura (Elk Grove), Oxy's senior ace, earned two wins in the circle in 9.1 innings pitched. She gave up just one earned run in a complete-game effort in Game 1 and threw 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to close out the seventh and eighth innings in Game 2.
Vacura finishes her career as the school's all-time leader in strikeouts and innings pitched.
Offensively, Ali Goldberg (Los Altos) and Jerika Barron (Half Moon Bay) led the way at the top of the lineup, combining for six runs scored and four RBIs.
Goldberg went 4 for 7 with four runs and a stolen base and Barron was 4 for 7 with one run, three RBIs and a double.
In Game 1, Goldberg singled to left field in the fifth, bringing home Vacura and then Meghan Luera (Pasadena) on a throwing error. Barron and Noone made it a four-run inning with a pair of sacrifice flies to score Goldberg and Jacqueline Shimamoto (Santa Clarita).
In Game 2, Oxy got some help from an error at third base, allowing Mariah Montgomery to come home for the go-ahead run in the seventh.
Shimamoto, a Second Team All-SCIAC selection last season, finishes the year ranked 11th in the SCIAC in hitting at .384.
