THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Softball team (33-7, 18-3 SCIAC) swept California Lutheran University (CLU) 7-4 in game one that went eight innings before cruising 9-4 in game two as they secured sole possession of their fifth-straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Regular Season title, while locking in the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SCIAC Tournament beginning next Friday, May 16.
Game 1 (W, 7-4 | 8-Innings)
The Bulldogs tied the game at one in the second and took a 3-1 lead in the third. Kassidy Long (Hemet, A) doubled home Leila Jackson (Vallejo, CA) in the second and Paige Messenlehner (Easton, CA) tripled and scored on an error before Long had a second RBI hit driving in Leila Gomez (San Bernardino, CA).
The Regals tied the game at four in the next half inning. Redlands would then respond in the top of the fourth with a Messenlehner RBI-single that scored Maya Holshoe (Redlands, CA).
With the score tied at four after seven innings, the two teams headed to extras. In the top-half of the eighth the Bulldogs plated three runs on three hits. Adyson Kim (Millbrae, CA) started things off reaching on a fielder's choice and then moved to third following a double by Saya Fujii (San Jose, CA) down the left field line. Messenlehner stepped up and singled to right field plating one, Brooklyn Bard (Garden Grove, CA) followed with a single to left, Savannah Barchus (Hillsboro, OR) walked to load the bases and Jackson connected on a sacrifice fly to right field.
In the bottom half of the inning Barchus would shut down the CLU offense with a 1-2-3 inning picking up her fourth win on the season. She threw the final two innings not giving up a run or a hit, while striking out one.
Messenlehner had a big game with three hits, including a triple and two RBI's, and two runs scored. Katlyn Gandara (Whittier, CA) only pitched one inning in relief but had two hits at the plate, one of which was a double. Long, however, led the way with four hits, two of which were doubles and two RBI's.
Game 2 (W, 9-4)
In a more straight forward game two, Redlands took the lead on three unearned runs in the second as Messenlehner picked up another RBI on the day, while Jenay Scott (Merced, CA), Kim, and Fujii all crossed the plate.
The Regals did pull a pair of runs back in the next half inning thanks to a home run, but the Bulldogs scored enough for the win in the top of the third when they again took advantage of poor defensively play by the Regals that made it 5-2 Bulldogs.
The rest of the runs for Redlands came on an Alyson Stofila (Corona, CA) triple down the right field line in the fourth, a two-run L. Jackson home run that plated Avery Duran (Corona, CA) in the sixth, and an RBI-single for Duran in the seventh. The homer for Jackson is the 10th of her career, the 13th player in program history to reach double figures.
Avery Provenzano (San Jose, CA), Duran, and L. Jackson all had multi-hit games with L. Jackson finishing 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI's, Duran going 2-for-3 scoring once and driving in another, Scott going 1-for-3 with two runs scored and Provenzano going 2-for-4 scoring once. Kaylen Galaviz (Yuba City, CA) came on in relief throwing 4.0 Innings giving up one run on four hits, while striking out four. She improved to 5-0.
The Bulldogs 13-game winning streak is tied for the seventh longest in program history, six of the record from 2012 and their second 13 plus game winning streak this season. Their 33 wins overall are tied for fourth-most. The record is from 2011 and 2013 when those teams won 36.
Redlands' first game of the upcoming SCIAC Tournament will be against No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday, May 9. The competition is double elimination.
