Over winter break, the Judges’ softball team started off their season in not-so-sunny California as the unideal weather conditions impacted their games. The Judges headed into the week having two doubleheaders scheduled against Whittier College and Pomona-Pitzer College. However, their double header against Pomona-Pitzer College was canceled due to inclement weather. Despite their rain delays the Judges came away with one win and one loss from their games against Whittier College.
The Judges’ first game of the season was held at Whittier College on Thursday, Feb. 23. Their first game against the Whittier Poets started with four runs off of only two hits to conclude the top of the first inning. The first-year Judges had an especially strong showing in the first with Maddie Manes ’26 scoring off of an error and Bells Burdenski ’26 hitting a two-run home run for her first college at-bat. The Judges had a rough bottom of the first as they let up home runs to each of the first two Poet hitters they faced. Following the first inning, however, first-year pitcher Ragini Kannan ’26 went on to have a strong showing for the remainder of her time on the mound. Kannan struck out seven, walked one and hit two batters. The Judges also let up an additional hit off of a fielding error. The Judges extended their lead in the fifth and sixth inning, scoring two runs in each. In the fifth, Haley Nash ’24 drove in two runs off of a single. In the sixth, Erin Hunt ’26 walked home a run and Anna Kolb ’25 also drove in a run off of a single. The Judges concluded the game having two players, Nash and Kolb, going three-for-six in at-bats. As for pitching, Kannan pitched the entire game, only letting up two runs.
For the second game of the day, the Judges opened up the top of the first inning with a single from Elle Ehrlich ’26 with two outs in the inning. In the second inning though, the Judges gave up the lead to the Poets for good, concluding the inning with a losing score 3-1. The Poets scored another two runs in the third, and their final run of the game in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, the Judges scored their second and last run of the game off of a sacrifice fly by Cohen who drove in a lead-off double by Kolb. The game concluded with a score of the Poets winning 6-2 over the Judges softball team. Cohen pitched the whole game.
As covered previously, the Judges’ games against Pomona-Pitzer College scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 25 were canceled due to the weather.
Looking ahead, the Judges games will be held on the weekend of Saturday March 18. They will play a double-header against Wentworth and another double header against Thomas University of Maine on the following day, Sunday, March 19.
