Claremont, Calif. - Freshman Natalie Ireland hit a walk-off grand slam (home run swing pictured) in the bottom of the eighth inning in the first game, and freshman Sam Carlson had a tiebreaking two-run double in the final inning of the nightcap as the Pomona-Pitzer Softball team swept a doubleheader from Willamette 8-5 and 11-9 on Friday afternoon. 

The second game was shortened to darkness after five innings, as Willamette scored four times in the top of the fifth to tie it, but Carlson was able to break the tie in the bottom half with her double after homering in both games of the doubleheader. With the sweep, the Sagehens improve to 5-6 overall on the year, while Willamette falls to 0-4 after opening its season on Thursday against Concordia. 

In the opening game, Carlson gave the Sagehens a 4-2 lead with a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth, but Willamette answered back with a two-run homer in the top of the seventh off the bat of Erin Norris. Myranda Ramirez then gave the Bearcats a 5-4 lead in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly.

The Sagehens rallied in the bottom half, though, behind their freshmen, as Emily Rockhill led off with a single, and one out later, Carlson added a single to put two runners on. Junior third baseman Paige Oliver drew a walk to load the bases, and Ireland followed with a blast over the left-center field fence to clear the bases and give Pomona-Pitzer the dramatic win. 

Carlson was 3-for-4 with two RBI in the opening game, while Rockhill was 2-for-4 with two RBI on a two-run double in the third. 

The nightcap saw the Sagehens take a 5-2 lead after the first inning as Ireland drove one to the wall with the bases loaded to almost end up with grand slams in two straight at bats, but settled for an RBI single. Senior second baseman Meagan Tokunaga added a two-run single in the frame. 

Carlson belted her second home run of the day in the second inning after the Bearcats tied the score 5-5, helping the Sagehens take an 8-5 lead. Tokunaga added another RBI single in the fourth to stretch the lead to 9-5, but Willamette used a three-run homer from Heather Winslow to key a four-run inning that tied up the game. Rockhill came out of the bullpen and came through with a key strikeout to end the inning with the bases loaded. 

Senior Leah Bleichner drew a walk to start the bottom half as darkness began to engulf the field, and after a sacrifice, Rockhill singled to put runners on the corners. Carlson then drove a ball into the left-center field gap to score two runs and push the lead to 11-9. Two outs later, the game was called due to darkness through five full as the Sagehens won a pair of dramatic contests. 

Carlson was 2-for-2 with four RBI to finish the day 5-for-6 with six RBI, while Tokunaga was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Bleichner was 3-for-3 with three runs scored at the top of the order. 

Pomoan-Pitzer is back in action tomorrow for a home doubleheader against Cal Lutheran, beginning at 12 p.m.