The No. 13 University of Redlands softball team settled for a split with the visiting Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Friday, rallying back for a 5-2 victory in the opener before dropping a 6-7 decision in the night cap.

After the Sagehens posted two runs in opening frame, Redlands put together a four-spot in the bottom of the third to take the lead. Sophomore center-fielder Amanda Lievanos (Anaheim, CA) notched her 10th double of the season, bringing home junior pitcher Kayla Uphold (Fontana, CA) and junior second baseman Arlene Martinez (Corona, CA) in the process. In addition, senior first baseman Rikki Scates (Redlands, CA) stepped up with a run-scoring double to cap off the inning.

The Bulldogs tacked on one more in the subsequent stanza when Uphold crushed an RBI-single to right field, plating senior designated player Breanna Ruelas (Brawley, CA).

Uphold scattered six hits and struck out four Sagehens en route to her 14th win of the season. She also helped herself at the plate with a 3-for-4 showing that included one RBI and one run scored.

Despite firing off three home runs in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs fell short of the late-game rally during the night cap, resulting in just their second conference loss of the season.

Following a one-run effort by the Bulldogs in the second inning, the Sagehens responded by pushing across seven in the top of the third. The visitors connected on a few seeing-eye hits while taking advantage of a pair of Redlands errors.

However, the Maroon and Gray refused to go down quietly, as Lievanos and Scates provided well-timed RBI-plays in the bottom of the frame.

Redlands had an excellent opportunity in the sixth when it loaded the bases with two outs. Ruelas, Martinez, and Uphold came up with clutch hits for the Bulldogs. However, a stellar defensive play by Sagehen short stop, senior Ari Roach, halted the Bulldogs' comeback hopes.

Nonetheless, Redlands rattled off three home runs to pull within one in the bottom of the seventh, as Lievanos, Scates and senior catcher Kai Masutani (Honolulu, HI) each uncorked long balls over the left-field fence. With Lievanos' dinger, she now ties the all-time Redlands career record (20) after just two seasons.

However, freshman pitcher Fiona Riley returned to the mound for Pomona-Pitzer and retired Redlands' subsequent batters to collect the save.

During the second game, Masutani led the Bulldog offense with a 3-for-4 effort, while Lievanos and Scates provided two RBI apiece.

With today's results, Redlands (24-8, 16-2 SCIAC) holds a two-game lead on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in the race for the 2012 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title. The Bulldogs look forward to hosting the Tigers of Occidental College on Friday, April 14, for a conference doubleheader at 2 p.m.