REDLANDS, Calif. – The No. 22 ranked University of Redlands softball team (0-1) opened their 2025 season with a 1-0 non-conference loss against National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) No. 17 Hope International University (HIU) Saturday afternoon as the team celebrated 50 years of women's varsity athletics at the university.
NFCA All-American Katlyn Gandara (Whittier, CA) got the start and went three up, three down to start the game. In the bottom half of the first Brooklyn Bard (Garden Grove, CA) had a one-out single and then stole second. She would get stranded at third, however.
Neither team had a base runner in the second, and HIU had none in the third, but with two outs Paige Messenlehner (Fresno, CA) singled and then stole second with two outs in the third. Bard followed with a hard hit ball up the middle but a good throw from the centerfield forced Head Coach Jose Ortega to hold Messenlehner at third. That throw would be key as the Royals got out of the inning unscathed.
After securing their first hit in the fourth, the Royals started the fifth with a pair of hits before loading the bases on a hit batter.
Gandara got a strike out for the first out of the inning. The following batter then hit the ball on the ground back to Gandara in what could have been at least a force out at home, or maybe a 1-2-3 double play, but the ball hit off the top of her glove and went behind her, allowing the eventual winning run to score as she took the out at first. She did keep the bases loaded, no out situation from getting out of hand as she picked-up a fly out to end the threat.
No runners reached base for the Bulldogs through the sixth and only one hit for the Royals took the game to the bottom of the seventh. Kassidy Long (Hemet, CA) pinch hit to open the frame and would reach on a chopper up the middle.
Kayla Jackson (Bishop, CA) pinch ran for Long and got into scoring position on a stolen base. Leila Jackson (Vallejo, CA) then walked and became the eventual winning run at first. The two Jackson's put HIU under more pressure as they put on a double steal reaching second and third.
A shallow pop out put one out on the board, which was then followed by Isabella Culp (Bayliss, CA) who worked the count and got hit by a pitch to load the bases. But all three runners would get stranded as HIU grabbed a strike out and a groundout to the shortstop to end the game.
Bard was the lone player to reach base multiple times for either team. She also recorded her first steal of the season. Gandara threw the complete game with four strikeouts on only 80 pitches.
The Bulldogs will immediately turn to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action next week as they host Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, February 14 at 2:00 p.m.
