ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The University of Redlands Softball team (36-9) tied the program record for single-season wins as they won their 36th game of the year after beating Wartburg College 8-0 in six innings to advance to the Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) Regional Final tomorrow morning.
Leila Jackson (Vallejo, CA) had the eventual game-winning hit in the first inning when she homered to right center scoring Kassidy Long (Hemet, CA) who had kept the inning alive with a two-out single.
Katlyn Gandara (Whittier, CA) made her return to the circle for the first time in two weeks, and she worked around a one-out single to consolidate the early lead for the Bulldogs.
The lead remained at two until the fourth when Avery Provenzano (San Jose, CA) doubled home pinch runner Kayla Jackson (Bishop, CA), who ran for Isabella Culp (Bayliss, CA) who led off the inning with a single, pushing the lead to 3-0. Adyson Kim (Millbrae, CA) then reached base on a throwing error and Provenzano scored to make it 4-0.
A groundout moved Kim to second and following a hit-by-pitch drawn by Paige Messenlehner (Easton, CA) and a single by Brooklyn Bard (Garden Grove, CA), Long would then hit a two-run sacrifice fly to left that made it 6-0.
Gandara allowed no hits in the bottom half of the sixth, but three errors had the bases loaded with only one out for Wartburg. Gandara would get out of the jam with a ground ball back to her for a force out at home and then she struck out the final Knight to maintain the 6-0 advantage.
The final two Bulldog runs came on a Bard RBI-single up the middle that scored Messenlehner and an RBI-double for L. Jackson that brought her RBI total to three. Gandara finished off her shutout in run-rule fashion in the bottom half of the sixth.
Bard led the way with three hits, L. Jackson reached base all four times with two hits and two walks. Provenzano continued her hot hitting with a 2-for-3 day. Gandara went six innings with only four hits allowed, no walks, and four strikeouts as she improved to 13-3.
Redlands plays tomorrow, Saturday, May 17 at 9:00 a.m. PST. They could play the No. 2 seed WashU, No. 3 Wartburg, or No. 4 Lake Forest College. The winner of WashU vs. Lake Forest plays Wartburg to end the day today. That winner then advances to play the Bulldogs who will need only one win to advance to the programs first-ever NCAA Super Regional.
