Panthers clinch 4th IEAC championship in past five seasons with doubleheader sweep at San Bernardino

The Chaffey Panthers traveled to San Bernardino Valley College on Friday to take on the Wolverines in the final conference matchups of the 2026 season.

Chaffey came into the doubleheader with a 12-1 record in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference, one game ahead of Mt. San Jacinto. In order to ensure a conference championship, the Panthers needed to win at least one (and needed two wins to ensure they wouldn’t have to settle for co-champions).

The Panthers took until the 3rd inning of game one to get started and then rolled from there. Freshman Micayla Arreola led off with a single and two batters later freshman Nevaeha Tarin drilled a long RBI triple.

Sophomore Rosyvette Garcia followed with an RBI single, and sophomore Fernanda Cano added an RBI single later in the inning for a quick 3-0 lead.

SBVC got on the board in the bottom of the inning, scoring their only run of the game.

Chaffey added to its lead with freshman Makayla Enriquez’s RBI single in the 4th.

In the 5th, freshman Mia Britt doubled in a run and then freshman Khila Estrada hit a sacrifice fly RBI for a 6-1 lead.

Meanwhile, freshman pitcher Bryanna Ortega was shutting down the SBVC offense, allowing just five hits and striking out a pair in five innings for her 12th win of the season.

Chaffey added two more sacrifice fly RBI’s in the 6th from sophomores Danielle Singley and Cano and an RBI from Tarin in the 7th for the final 9-1 score.

Freshman Sarah Hernandez tossed two scoreless innings to close out the game, giving Chaffey at least a share of the conference title.

In game two, the Panthers scored another 9 runs but played some sloppy defense, giving up 5 unearned runs but held on for the victory. Britt picked up the win in the circle to up her record to a perfect 11-0 on the year, giving Chaffey a 4th title in head coach Jerry Tivey’s 5th season at the helm.

Tarin went 3-7 at the plate on the day, scoring a pair of runs and driving in four. Britt, in addition to her pitching victory, was 3-7 at the plate, also. She had two double and two RBI’s.

Photo credit by John Ho