The seventh-ranked University of Redlands softball team blanked the Regals of Cal Lutheran University in Friday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) doubleheader in Thousand Oaks.  The Bulldog battery held the opponents scoreless through both games en route to the Maroon and Gary's 7-0 and 6-0 performances.

Senior ace Kayla Uphold (Fontana, CA) went the distance in the opener, scattering two hits and striking out five for her 18th win of the season. 

After freshman right-fielder AJ Carrasco (Whittier, CA) provided a single up the middle to score two runs in the third inning, Redlands rattled off seven singles in the sixth to blow the game open.  While batting around, the Maroon and Gray saw junior second baseman Amanda Clark (Riverside, CA) step up with a two-out single for a pair of runs to cap off the scoring.

Clark and Carrasco both finished the game with two hits and two RBI to lead the Bulldogs.

During the second game, sophomore pitcher Nikoli Sharp (Lincoln, CA) improved to 5-0 on the season with a solid, four-inning effort from the circle while giving up just one hit.  Junior pitcher Kaitlyn Hooper (Riverside, CA) closed out the game with three additional frames of shut-out ball, earning her first save of her Bulldog career.

Redlands initiated the scoring once again in the third inning, when freshman shortstop Vicki King (Thousand Oaks, CA) uncorked a two-RBI single up the middle.

The Bulldogs put together a four-spot in the subsequent stanza, earning a solid six-run lead midway through the game.  Highlighting the scoring, Carrasco fired off another two-RBI single before senior center-fielder Sarah Beeman (Corona, CA) rocketed a bases-clearing triple to plate Carrasco and freshman left-fielder Grace Rose (Villa Park, CA), who had reached on the Regals' second miscue of the inning.

The Maroon and Gray defense was flawless in the doubleheader, turning two double plays in the process.  Clark came up with a clutch, diving catch in the bottom of the fourth of game one, prohibiting the runner on second to advance.

Redlands (29-7, 19-5 SCIAC) faces Chapman University in Saturday's 12 noon doubleheader in Orange.  The Bulldogs sit at the top of the conference standings, with the Panthers only one game behind in a tight race for first place.