WAVERLY, Iowa – The University of Redlands softball team (41-5) split two games with No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) Saturday, which was good enough to win the Wartburg College Regional title advancing them to the NCAA Super Regional round next week.
Game 1 (L, 6-4)
The Bulldogs fell behind 4-0 after an inning and a half after the Titans had a two-run single in the first and scored a pair of runs on an error in the second.
Adyson Kim (Millbrae, CA) would respond however for the Maroon and Grey, hitting a two-run home run in the bottom of the second. After one career home run through 171 games, she now has three in her last 16 games with two coming in her last five contests. Jenay Scott (Merced, CA) scored on the homerun.
The two sides traded RBI's in the fourth and fifth with Scott picking up an RBI on a ground out that plated Leila Gomez (San Bernardino, CA).
Following a solo home run for IWU in the top of the seventh, Natalie Lowthers (Wrightwood, CA) and Scott had back-to-back doubles with one out, which resulted in a run. The next play, though, was a double play that ended the game.
Paige Ellinger (Temecula, CA) finished off the final six innings with only five hits allowed after the Titans had three in the first.
Gomez and Scott had four of the Bulldogs' nine hits, while Scott and Kim drove in all four runs.
Game 2 (W, 6-4)
In a third 6-4 final scoreline between the two sides, the Bulldogs got the win to advance to the super regionals.
After trailing throughout the first game, Redlands jumped out in front 3-0 after a Katlyn Gandara (Whittier, CA) single and a two-run home run from Lowthers in the third.
After a response RBI double by IWU in the bottom of the third, Scott earned a pair of RBI's on a fielder's choice, which made it 5-1 Bulldogs through four and a half.
The Titans, though, pulled within one, 5-4, after two RBI singles and a sacrifice fly. Caitlynn Griffith (Pala, CA) then locked in for an eight-out save.
Gomez added an insurance run on a sacrifice fly that plated Brooklyn Bard (Long Beach, CA) in the seventh.
Lowthers and Scott in the four-five spots combined for five of the 10 Bulldog hits and four of the six RBI's.
Gandara got her 21st win on the season after 4.1 innings with three earned runs allowed. Griffith allowed no runs on three hits over the final 2.2 innings for her sixth save on the season.
The Bulldogs will now wait and see who their Super Regional opponent will be. Official announcement will come Sunday afternoon. There is a high possibility that the Bulldogs will faceoff with fellow No. 1 seed, and No. 8 overall in the NCAA NPI, Texas Lutheran University next Thursday-Friday in a best-of-three series with the winner advancing to Virginia for the Women's College World Series where these teams matched-up against each other last May.
