WAVERLY, Iowa – The University of Redlands softball team (39-4) scored a run in each of the first five innings, while Katlyn Gandara (Whittier, CA) and Caitlynn Griffith (Pala, CA) combined to allow only five hits as the Bulldogs defeated Dominican University (Illinois), 5-3, in the first game of the Wartburg College Regional in the NCAA Division III Softball Championships.
Gandara gave herself an early run with a solo home run in the first. Natalie Lopez (Long Beach, CA) singled home Maya Holshoe (Redlands, CA) in the second and Jenay Scott (Merced, CA) made it 3-0 in the third with and RBI single that allowed pinch runner Kayla Jackson (Bishop, CA) to come home.
Lopez got her second RBI on the day in the fourth when she hit a solo home run. This is only the second multi home run game for the Bulldogs with the other coming back on April 10 against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Holshoe brought Scott around on a double in the fifth before the Stars pulled to within two, 5-3, in the sixth when they had an RBI single that scored a second run on an error and an RBI groundout.
Griffith was then brought in with a runner at second and the tying run at the plate. She would strike the batter out on four pitches. She then secured the save in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts.
Brooklyn Bard (Long Beach, CA), Gandara, Scott, Holshoe, and Lopez all had two hits. Gandara got her 19th win on the season after throwing 5.2 innings with two earned runs allowed. Griffith earned her fourth save after finishing off the final 1.1 innings on only 15 pitches.
The Bulldogs will play the winner of No. 2 seed and host Wartburg and No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University tomorrow morning, May 15 at 9:00 a.m. pacific time.
