Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Riverside, Calif. – Columbia College softball swept today's doubleheader over La Sierra University. Columbia defeated the Golden Eagles 11-4 in the first game of the day and took game two by a score of 10-0 in five innings. With the victories, the Cougars improve to 10-9 on the season.

The Cougars jumped on top early against the Golden Eagles in game one as leadoff batter Carly Spalding singled to right and stole her team-leading 25^th base to get into scoring position. Julianna Waldner then doubled to left-center to score Spalding, and later came across the plate after a sacrifice fly by Taylor Atwood.

Columbia added a third run at the top of the third inning as Spalding, yet again led off with a single and advanced to second on a stolen base. She then came around to score on a misplayed grounder. La Sierra finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning as Cynthia Martinez singled to deep right-center and moved to second on a wild throw by the Cougars. A Columbia error in the infield allowed Martinez to advance to third and Genifer Garbellini followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit.

However, the Cougars would get the run back as Tylin Stephens reached second on a misplayed grounder by the Golden Eagles' second baseman and was sacrificed over to third by Brittiany Tjarks. Another La Sierra error would allow Stephens to score, giving the Cougars a 4-1 lead.

The Cougars tacked on two more runs at the top of the fifth and the sixth for a commanding 8-0 lead. The Golden Eagles would respond with two runs of their own at the bottom of the frame after a two-run single by Klarissa Garcia.

The Columbia offense didn't stop there as Maria Imhoff blasted her first career homerun to score Stephens and Spalding singled to center to score Paige Kleffner for an 11-3 lead. La Sierra would add one more run after an RBI single by Brianna Gutierrez at the bottom of the inning, but could not mount a comeback as the Cougars ran away with the victory.

Paxton Welch (5-4) allowed just one run on three hits in her five innings, while striking out three and not walking a single batter. Tiffany Urwiler pitched two innings of relief, allowing one earned run on four hits. Spalding led the offensive effort with four of Columbia's ten hits while also scoring three times. Allyson Metz, Waldner, Atwood, and Imhoff each had one hit and two RBI in game one.

The Cougars got the scoring started in the second inning of game two as Spalding hit a base clearing double to give Columbia an early 3-0 lead. Columbia pushed across another run in the top of the first after an RBI single by Tjarks. The Cougar offense erupted for six more runs at the top of the fourth, highlighted by a grand slam by Tjarks and an RBI single by Spalding to cap off the 10-0 victory.

Amber Boehme pitched a four-hit shutout over five innings for her second win of the season. The junior struck out two batters and allowed just one walk. Tjarks paced the Cougar offense, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and five RBI.

Columbia will return to the diamond on Wednesday, March 25^th to take on fourth-ranked Concordia. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. CT.