CLAREMONT, Calif. - Rachel Sapirstein had a three-run double and Hannah Adams shut the Illinois Wesleyan offense down over the final six innings as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps softball team earned a split on Saturday at Athena Field. 

Illinois Wesleyan took the opening game 6-1 as it starts the season out 1-1, following a 31-12 season a year ago. CMS moves to 6-1 on the year after suffering its first loss of the season in the opener. 

The Athenas looked like they were in danger of a sweep as the Titans jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning of the nightcap, but Imani Ferris, Giselle Lai and Alex Wedemeyer drew consecutive walks with one out. After the Titans got the second out of the inning, Sapirstein came through with a clutch drive that one-hopped the left field wall to make it a 4-3 game. 

CMS took advantage of three Illinois Wesleyan errors to go ahead 5-4 in the third. Brooke Goodman had a single to put runners on first and second with one out, and the Titans were unable to turn a double play on a grounder from Sapirstein that allowed the tying run to score. With two outs, Lexie Stinson's grounder was mishandled, allowing Sapirstein to score the eventual winning run. 

After Illinois Wesleyan scored four times in the top of the first, Adams retired the side in order in the second through fifth innings, before two consecutive errors put two on with nobody out in the sixth. After a grounder moved runners up a base, Adams induced a soft liner to first for the second out, and then got a big strikeout to leave two runners stranded in scoring position. 

Adams then earned her fifth 1-2-3 inning of the game in the seventh, to secure the 5-4 win and give CMS the split. 

In the opener, Brooke Goodman was 3-for-3 and had an RBI for the Athenas, while Megan Kho and Ferris each had pinch-hit singles, but Illinois Wesleyan was able to score twice in the fourth and three times in the fifth to break it open.

CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it hosts Case Western for a 12 p.m. doubleheader.