ORANGE, Calif. – The University of Redlands softball team (32-4, 17-1) swept Chapman University with a 1-0 game one win and a 14-3 win in game two. The game one win gave the Bulldogs their sixth consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) regular season title under head coach Jose Ortega.
Game 1; Redlands 1 – Chapman 0
The Bulldogs were held hitless for 3.1 innings before Leila Gomez had an infield single, but she was then thrown out trying to take second.
They did not have another hit until a leadoff triple by Avery Provenzano in the top of the sixth. After a pop up, Brooklyn Bard singled her home for a 1-0 lead. Bard stole third but a strike out and a caught stealing of home ended the half inning, though, the Bulldogs had the lead.
Caitlynn Griffith, who relieved Paige Ellinger after she threw four scoreless innings, got two pop ups and a strike out in the sixth.
Natalie Lowthers walked to begin the seventh inning, but pinch runner Kayla Jackson was stranded. Griffith made quick work of the Panthers in the bottom of the seventh, setting them down in order.
The Bulldogs were held to only three hits, but Ellinger and Griffith held the Panthers to six and stranded four base runners as Griffith got her eighth win.
Game 2: Redlands 14 – Chapman 3 (6 Innings)
In the final game of the series the game was tied at two after three innings with all four runs coming in the third. Gomez tripled home Provenzano and Katlyn Gandara singled home Gomez for a 2-0 lead before the Panthers scored two of their own in the bottom half.
Natalie Lopez doubled home Provenzano in the fourth and then scored on a wild pitch. Chapman got one back on a double steal in the home half inning, but that would be their final run.
Redlands posted two five-run innings, one in the fifth and the other in the sixth. In the fifth Jenay Scott Singled home Jackson, Adyson Kim tripled and cleared the bases with Maya Holshoe, Scott, and Lowers all crossing the plate, and Provenzano made it 9-3 with a sacrifice fly to left.
In the sixth Lowthers and Holshoe had an RBI and two-run single before Madeline Hughes and Lopez each doubled in a run for the final line of 14-3.
Gandara got her 17th win which ties her career high from 2024. It also gives her 65 career wins, tying her with Olivia Ellis (2007-10) for the most in program history.
With the SCIAC title, Redlands will host the other three tournament teams in two weeks for the double elimination SCIAC Tournament. Prior to that they finish the regular season against Pomona-Pitzer with the first game on the road in Claremont on Friday, May 1 at 3 p.m.
