The 19th-ranked University of Redlands softball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships by running the table at the 2011 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Bulldogs avenged four earlier season losses to No. 13 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges by taking two big games from the familiar foes, including the tournament championship by a score of 9-5.
Despite winning a share of this year's regular-season title, Redlands entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed while CMS came in as the top seed due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
This was all the motivation that the Maroon and Gray needed to rattle off three straight wins to secure the program's seventh straight trip to the NCAA Championships.
The excitement began on Friday when the Bulldogs jumped out to an early 3-1 lead against the third-seeded Leopards of the University of La Verne and held on for the eventual 5-4 victory.
Sophomore pitcher Kayla Uphold (Fontana, CA) helped herself with two RBI on two hits while also recording the complete-game win from the circle.
After being sidelined with an injury for most of the conference season, sophomore center fielder Sarah Beeman (Corona, CA) returned to action on Friday and snagged a deep fly ball for the third out of the fifth inning. With a runner on third, La Verne would have tied the ball game without her stellar defensive play.
Later that afternoon, Redlands faced CMS in a battle of the tournament's opening winners. In an epic, nine-inning game, the Maroon and Gray prevailed by a score of 3-2, thus advancing the Bulldogs to the title game.
Senior first baseman Lizett Casillas (Pomona, CA) stepped up with an RBI-single in the first inning to score freshman shortstop Amanda Clark (Riverside, CA), who led off the game with a base knock.
Redlands escaped a pair of bases-loaded situations in the third and the fifth innings by giving up only two total runs.
The Bulldogs knotted the score in the bottom of the fifth when freshman right fielder Amanda Lievanos (Anaheim, CA) crushed a well-timed RBI-single to push across sophomore left fielder Kirsten Milliner (Torrance, CA) after she led off with a triple.
Following three scoreless innings, the Maroon and Gray finally rallied for a string of hits while capitalizing on two Athena miscues in the bottom of the ninth. With the bases loaded, Lievanos connected on her second hit and second RBI of the game, bringing home junior catcher Kai Masutani (Honolulu, HI) for the winning run.
Uphold threw eight quality innings for the Bulldogs before freshman pitcher Gabrielle Sciuto (Poway, CA) stepped in to finish the job. Uphold fanned six batters and scattered five hits, while Sciuto retired the side with two strikeouts and a groundout in the final inning.
This exciting victory propelled Redlands into Saturday's championship game, which was a second rematch with the Athenas after they had taken care of La Verne in an earlier elimination contest.
Despite giving up two first-inning runs, the Bulldogs settled down into an offensive-minded rhythm that allowed them to push across seven in the top of the second stanza. While making the most of two CMS errors, Redlands also recorded three hits with freshman left fielder Janelle Carrasco (Whittier, CA) and Beeman supplying two RBI.
Although the Athenas rallied for three runs over the subsequent two innings, Redlands responded with a pair of insurance runs in the sixth.
Sciuto recorded her 11th win of the season after tossing five innings of relief. She allowed five hits but no runs while striking out two batters.
With Saturday's victory, Redlands (34-9) secures the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships and looks forward to the official announcement on Monday, May 9. In addition, this triumph puts the 2011 squad in a tie for the most wins in program history, equaling the output of the 2008 team that went 34-12 on the year.
