REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands softball team advanced to the Seguin Super Regional round of the NCAA Division III National Championships after winning the Waverly Regional last week. The Bulldogs will take on Texas Lutheran University (TLU) Thursday-Friday, May 21-22 in a best-of-three series in Seguin, Texas.

Tickets

Tickets will be available onsite at Ed Kruse Stadium. Per day tickets prices are $15 for adults, $10 for students and senior citizens (65 and older), $5 for children, and children two and under are free. A tournament pass can be purchased for $25 for adults or $15 for seniors for access to all games for the weekend.

Tournament Format

The series will begin on Thursday, May 21 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) pacific time (PT). Game two will be Friday, May 22 beginning at 11:00 a.m. PT. The third game, if necessary, would start about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game.

Series History

The two Bulldog teams have met only once before. It came last May at the NCAA Division III Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Illinois when Redlands won 2-0 to avoid elimination. Both of Redlands' runs came in the first inning when Katlyn Gandara hit a two-run single to center. In the circle Gandara threw seven shutout innings.  

No. 9 (NPI) Redlands (41-5)

The Bulldogs are aiming for their second Women's College World Series appearance. The Bulldogs make the super regional thanks to a 3-1 record in Iowa last week. They defeated No. 4 seed in the regional Dominican University (Illinois) 5-3 on Thursday before defeating No. 3 seed Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) 6-4 to advance to championship Saturday at 2-0. That win over IWU was their 30^th-straight win.

On Saturday they lost by the same scoreline of 6-4 against IWU. They responded in the decisive second game with a 6-4 win to secure the regional title.

The University of Redlands Bulldogs are led by head coach Jose Ortega in his eighth season at the helm in Redlands, California. Ortega helped the Bulldogs' to the program's first NCAA Super Regional and World Series appearance in 2025.  The Bulldogs are 41-5 on the year and took home the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) regular season and SCIAC tournament titles and posted a 20-1 mark during the regular season.  

Redlands is paced by All-SCIAC First Team veterans Katelyn Gandara, Jenay Scott and Brooklyn Bard coupled with Caitlynn Griffth, who was named the 2026 SCIAC Newcomer of the Year.  Gandara, a former All-American and multi-time SCIAC Pitcher/Player of the Year, is renowned as one of the best players in the West Region. Gandara is batting .452 in her senior season with four homers and 53 RBI's. In the circle, she is 21-1 with 47 strikeouts and a 2.24 ERA. Gandara was named Most Outstanding Player of the Waverly, Iowa Regional and also was named to the NFCA All-West Region First Team. 

Fellow All-Region honoree Jenay Scott was the second-leading hitter for the Bulldogs with a .457 average to earn Second Team All-Region honors. She added 14 extra base hits, 34 RBI, 42 runs scored, and nine stolen bases. She was also selected First Team All-SCIAC.  Caitlynn Griffin ranks fourth in the country with six saves as a freshman in 2026.  Senior Adyson Kim joined Gandara on the NFCA All-West Region First Team as a third baseman. Kim, also a First Team All-SCIAC selection, is hitting .344 with a .379 on-base percentage. She also had 43 runs batted in, which is second most on the team, and 17 extra base hits, which is the third most for the Bulldogs.  Brooklyn Bard, was a Second Team All-West Region selection, hitting .415 with the second highest OBP of .512. She added a team-high 48 runs scored, 26 walks, and 38 stolen bases.  She too was a First Team All-SCIAC performer.  

Other All-SCIAC performers for the Bulldogs included Avery Provenzano (2nd Baseman) and Natalie Lowthers (Catcher) who both landed on the 2nd Team.  

National Stat Rankings

Final game of Wartburg Regional (6-4 win over Illinois Wesleyan) not included.

No. 8 Texas Lutheran (41-4)

TLU swept through the NCAA Seguin Regional, including two run-rule victories, outscoring the opposition 35-4. The Bulldogs beat Penn State Behrend 10-0 in five innings to open the regional and followed that up with a 19-3 win over Trinity in five innings before taking down No. 13 Huntingdon in the regional final 6-1. This weekend's Super Regional marks TLU's second straight appearance. Overall, it's TLU's fourth appearance in the Super Regionals.

Texas Lutheran has made the NCAA Tournament every year since joining the SCAC in 2014, all under head coach Wade Wilson (tournament was not played in 2020).  In 2025, TLU reached its fourth WCWS in program history, culminating in an eighth place finish. The Bulldogs have made the WCWS four times since 2019, tying with Trine for the most in D3.  This marks TLU's second straight Super Regional appearance and fourth overall. All-time, the Bulldogs are 6-1 in the round, including a 2-0 mark in Supers held at Ed Kruse Stadium. The last Seguin Super Regional came in 2022 against Belhaven which the Bulldogs swept in two games.  The Bulldogs are aiming for their fourth Women's College World Series appearance.

The Bulldogs went 4-3 in ranked matchups in the regular season, highlighted by midweek splits over then-No. 6 WashU and No. 17 Tufts and a series victory over then-No. 19 St. Thomas. The Bulldogs closed the season ranked eighth in the NCAA NPI. The Bulldogs added another Top 25 win last week over Huntingdon.  TLU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 388-77 on the season, surrendering an average of 1.71 runs/game. The pitching staff has been exceptional, tossing shutouts in 20 of TLU's 45 games to rank second in the country.

Katelyn Howard leads the pitching staff with a 0.86 ERA, while the Bulldogs three primary pitchers hold ERAs under 2.50. Three members of the Bulldogs' staff hold ERAs under 2.00 in Howard, Joy (1.39) and Jamie Burch (1.31).  As a team, TLU is batting .398, ranking second in NCAA Division-III with 246 stolen bases - leading the NCAA across all levels. TLU ranks fourth in runs (388) while ranking third in on-base percentage (.466) and scoring (8.62) and fifth in hits (478).  Caelee Clark, who became college softball's all-time stolen base leader earlier this season, leads the nation with 86 stolen bases with Riley Davila ranking in the top 20 nationally with 40 this season.  Taylor Vannett leads the team with 63 RBIs, ranking eighth in Division-III, while three other Bulldogs have 30-plus runs batted in.

National Stat Rankings

What's Next?

The winner of this super regional will advance to the Division III College World Series in Salem, Virginia from May 28-June 3. The WCWS features eight teams who will be reseeded based on their NPI ranking.