LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. – The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) announced their 2026 softball awards Wednesday with the University of Redlands' Katlyn Gandara (Whittier, CA) earning SCIAC Athlete of the Year (AOTY) recognition.

This is her second ATOY honor after earning the recognition in 2024. Overall, she is now a three-time player of the year with SCIAC Pitcher of the Year honors going to her as a freshman in 2023. She is the third Bulldog to win multiple AOTY honors along with Collete Allen (2021-22) and Kayla Uphold (2012-13).

She also made the All-SCIAC 1st Team, her fourth selection of her career. She is the first player since Amanda Lievanos (2011-12, 2014-15) to earn four 1st Team All-SCIAC selections.

During SCIAC play she was second in batting average (.448), slugging percentage (.690), and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (1.228) and led the conference in on-base percentage (OBP) (.538). She also had the most runs batted in (RBI's) with 26, doubled the third-most times (8), added two home runs, and was hit by a pitch (HBP) the most times (8).

In the circle Gandara was fifth in earned run average (ERA) (2.33), sixth in innings pitched (66), eighth in strikeouts (20), first in wins (10), and the co-leader with the fewest walks allowed (4).

In the field defensively in the circle, and at first base, she had a perfect fielding percentage, one of only six qualified players to do so. She was also on the receiving end of three double plays, which was the ninth-most.

Gandara and the Bulldogs won the SCIAC regular season title with one loss (20-1) which gave them the No. 1 seed in the SCIAC Tournament and hosting rights. The double elimination tournament begins Friday, May 8 and continues through Sunday.