Claremont, Calif. (April 9, 2012) — Pitzer athletes played key roles for the Sagehens during an excellent week on the fields and courts for Pitzer-Pomona teams.
The Baseball team swept all three games from neighboring rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps this week. Travis Rooke-Ley ’12 continued his outstanding senior season by throwing seven innings, allowing just one earned run, to get the win in the series opener. Rooke-Ley is now 6-0 with an impressive 0.73 ERA in SCIAC games this year. Erik Munzer ’13 also batted .500 on the week, while E.J. Lopez ’15 hit .364. The Sagehens will play three conference games this week, at Occidental on Friday, at Whittier on Saturday and at home against Cal Lutheran on Sunday.
The Softball team took a big step towards a SCIAC Tournament berth by winning three out of four games, including a split with first place Redlands, which is ranked No. 13 in the nation. Bri Marcantoni ’12 provided her usual clutch hitting with four RBI, while Ashley Morello ’15 batted .400 over the four games while hitting leadoff. Ari Roach ’12 also hit .357 on the week with a pair of RBI. The Sagehens have two key doubleheaders this week, including a home twin bill against Whittier on Saturday at noon.
Women’s Water Polo and Women’s Tennis both remained undefeated in the SCIAC this week with the help from several Pitzer athletes. Alyssa Woodward ’15 continued her impressive freshman season with three goals in a 9-7 road win over Redlands to improve the Sagehens to 3-0 in league games this year, while senior captain Annie Oxborough-Yankus ’12 added two goals. Women’s Water Polo has three home matches this week against La Verne at 5 p.m. and Azusa Pacific at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and then a potential first-place showdown with Cal Lutheran on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Emily Kahawara ’12 helped Women’s Tennis to a 9-0 win over La Verne by winning an 8-0 match at doubles and then taking a 6-2, 6-1 win in singles. Jamie Solomon ’13 also won a 6-1, 6-4 match at No. 1 singles and helped the No. 1 doubles team to an 8-1 win. Men’s Tennis picked up a 6-3 win over nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus. Chris Wiechert ’14 returned to his winning ways after seeing his 13-match win streak snapped last week against UC Santa Cruz, earning a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles, and also earned an 8-6 win in doubles. Max Sabel ’13 also won his singles match at the No. 3 line, cruising in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Both tennis teams will face Caltech this weekend before traveling up Sixth Street for big matches with CMS on Saturday night at 6 p.m.
Women’s Lacrosse played its final home game on the new athletic field above the parking garage (the first official NCAA sporting event ever played at the facility) and gave CMS a scare for a while before falling 17-12. Jana London ’14 had a big day offensively with four goals, while Casey Leek ’14 had a strong effort in goal, recording 10 saves in the first half (14 for the game) to keep the Sagehens in the contest. A SCIAC bid will be on the line when they travel to Whittier this Saturday.
The track and field teams also saw Pitzer athletes continue to give strong performances at a SCIAC Quad meet hosted by Occidental. For the Men’s Track and Field team, Greg Hook ’14 and Adam Faison ’15 helped the 4×400 relay team continue to lower its top time, as it came in under 3:18, one of the top 10 times in Division III this year (and the sixth-best time in program history). Matt Owen ’13 cleared 13 feet in the pole vault (13 feet, 5.25 inches) for his top performance of the year. On the Women’s Track and Field side, Alex Oxborough-Yankus ’14, younger sister of Annie from the water polo team, placed in the top four in both the discus and the javelin, while Roxanne Cook ’13 broke five minutes in the 1500 meters (4:57.12). The track and field teams will host the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on Saturday in their final tune-up before the SCIAC championships at Redlands later this month.
