Claremont, Calif. (January 30, 2012) — This past week saw one winter sport host its final home event (Swimming and Diving), while two spring sports hosted their first home events (Baseball and Softball).
Andrew Savage ’15 helped the Men’s Swimming team break a pool record in its final home event of the year, as the 400-yard freestyle relay team touched the wall in a time of 3:12.32 to cap off a lopsided win. The final time broke the Haldeman Pool record set last weekend by Redlands, when the Sagehens actually broke the old pool record as well, but lost the race to the Bulldogs and ended with the second-fastest time (before breaking it this weekend). On the women’s side, Avery Barron ’15 won both diving competitions to help Pitzer-Pomona to a comfortable win, while Mari Pettibone ’15 was second in the 200-yard breaststroke in a very close race, just .26 seconds behind teammate Gailyn Portelance PO ’15 as the Sagehens swept the top three positions.
The Women’s Basketball team had a strong effort in a narrow 61-48 defeat to SCIAC-leading Occidental on Saturday, as Ruthie Shapiro ’15 helped the Sagehen cause with a game-high 10 rebounds, while Emi Hashizume ’14 added nine points. Pitzer-Pomona has two home games this week, facing Cal Lutheran on Thursday night and then Redlands on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the first half of a doubleheader with the Sagehens Men’s Basketball team (currently tied for second in the SCIAC at 5-2), which faces Redlands at 7 p.m.
The Pitzer-Pomona Baseball team helped get the spring underway with a dramatic season opener as it scored with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to salvage a 7-7 tie with Westmont (the game was called after the ninth due to darkness). Erik Munzer ’13 was 2-for-4 with a triple and a highlight-reel leaping catch against the wall. Sam Fox ’15 was 1-for-3 in his collegiate debut, while Ben Cohen ’12 added a key RBI in the late innings and Peter Klingman ’13 pitched a scoreless ninth to set up the Sagehens for the tie. Pitzer-Pomona hosts Whitworth on Thursday this week (2 p.m.) for another non-conference game.
The Softball team also began the spring in strong fashion as it swept La Sierra 4-1 and 8-2 on Friday to start the year out 2-0. Pitzer-Pomona trailed 1-0 in the fourth inning in the opener, before Ari Roach ’12 and Bri Marcantoni ’12 hit back-to-back RBI doubles in a four-run inning that gave the Sagehens a 4-1 win. In the nightcap, Pitzer-Pomona again trailed 2-0 before taking advantage of three La Sierra errors in the fourth to go ahead 3-2, with Shannon Julius ’14 providing the tying RBI single. Ashley Morello ’15 was also 3-for-5 in the doubleheader, including a double in her first collegiate at-bat.
Women’s Water Polo also got its season underway at the Cal Speedo Invitational against some tough competition, falling to No. 2 California in its season opener, while also falling to No. 11 Loyola Marymount, Cal State Monterey Bay and Cal Baptist. Alyssa Woodward ’15 had a strong first weekend of her collegiate career by leading the Sagehens in scoring in all four games. A young Sagehen team this year (eight freshmen) is captained by a pair of Pitzer seniors in Perri Hopkins ’12 and Annie Oxborough-Yankus ’12.
