WHITTIER, Calif. – Winning a tight pitchers' duel in the opener and a runaway in the nightcap, the Whittier College Poets pounced on the George Fox University Bruins for a doubleheader sweep, 3-1 and 10-1 in five innings, in non-conference women's softball action Saturday afternoon here at Palmer Field.

In the first game, Heather Dady (1-0) of Whittier and Taylor Whitmore (0-1) of George Fox each went the distance on the mound.  Dady held the Bruins to four hits and three walks, while Whitmore surrendered seven hits and two walks while striking out three in her first start of the year.

The Poets took an early lead by scoring a run in each the first three innings.  In the first, Courtney Grana singled, went to second when Ashely Perez beat out a sacrifice attempt, and Molly Yriarte singled up the middle to score Grana.

In the second, Courtney DeLano drew a leadoff walk and was pinch-run for by Brenda Thompson. Cindy Loza put Thompson in scoring position with a sacrifice, and after Nikki Mendoza reached on an infield single, Denisse Martinez drove in Thompson with a double to left-center.  In the third, Yriarte walked and later scored on a Jennifer Luders ground out.

George Fox got on the board in the sixth on consecutive two-out singles by Kerrianne Davidson, Bethany Chriss, and Shelby Briske, but Dady escaped further damage with a fly out and then got the Bruins 1-2-3 in the seventh.

In the second game, George Fox jumped on top in the first as Kris Trindle led off with a bunt single, moved up when Davidson was hit by a pitch and Chriss walked, and was pushed across when Briske was hit by a pitch.  The rest of the game was all Poets, however.

Whittier touched Bruin starter Allyssa DenDekker (0-2) for four in the first, the big blow a two-run double by Mickala Gonzales that put the Poets ahead.  Luders followed with an RBI grounder and DeLano singled up the middle to score another.

Whittier added another run in the second and three more in the third.  Gonzales started the third with a double to right field and later scored on a DeLano single. Perez did the rest of the damage with a two-run single.  The eight-run rule went into effect with two more runs in the fourth as DeLano picked up her third RBI with a sacrifice fly and Loza singled home the 10th run of the game for the Poets.

DeLano (2-0) picked up the win by going 3.2 innings of relief, allowing two of the Bruins' three hits and no runs with three strikeouts and a walk.  DenDekker went all the way for the Bruins, surrendering 10 hits but only five earned runs with a strikeout and three walks.

Gonzales was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs for Whittier.  DeLano and Loza had two hits each, with DeLano driving in three.

NEXT: George Fox (1-3) finishes its season-opening southern California swing Sunday with a 12:00 noon twinbill at California Lutheran University ... Whittier (4-0) hosts the University of Redlands in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Sunday at noon.