The University of Redlands softball team traveled to Thousand Oaks to begin its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) slate on Sunday by facing off against the Cal Lutheran University Regals in a doubleheader. The Bulldogs struggled through most of the day, falling to the home squad by scores of 10-11 and 4-12.
In game one, the teams each recorded runs in two of the first three innings, knotting the score at two apiece.
The Bulldogs gained a slight edge in the top of the fourth frame, when junior right-fielder AJ Carrasco (Whittier, CA) crushed a double to center field to plate junior third baseman Addie Oeleis (Temecula, CA). Sophomore Casey Maltz (Palo Alto, CA) entered the game as a pinch hitter and made the most of her opportunity by connecting on an RBI-single for a 4-2 Bulldog lead.
Once again, the teams traded single scores in the subsequent innings, making it 5-3 at the middle of the fifth stanza.
However, CLU rallied for a combined eight runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings while taking advantage of three Bulldog errors to make it 11-5.
Nonetheless, the Bulldogs' bats responded in the top of the seventh in an attempt to match Cal Lutheran's offensive output while striving to complete a comeback. After an RBI-single by junior first baseman Vicki King (Thousand Oaks, CA), graduate student designated player Amanda Lievanos (Anaheim, CA) kept the rally flowing with a single to load the bases up for junior catcher Dani Santos (West Covina, CA). With no outs, Santos stepped up big time by poking a single down the right-field line, bringing two runs across the plate to cut the deficit to three at 8-11.
With the pressure on, the Regals coughed up an error that allowed freshman Sidney Halbeisen (Indio, CA), who pinch-ran for Lievanos, to score for the Bulldogs. Sophomore left-fielder Amanda Ang (Santa Cruz, CA) continued the rally by dropping a single into center field to make it a one-run game with only one out.
But, a nicely executed double-play by the Regal defense ended the Maroon and Gray's comeback, resulting in the 10-11 defeat for Redlands.
After receiving the ball for the start, junior hurler Lauren Henson (Highland, CA) tossed 4.1 innings while giving up 12 hits and seven earned runs in the loss.
King was 2-for4 with two RBI and a run scored. Santos went 1-for-4 with three RBI, while sophomore center-fielder Marissa Romero (Manteca, CA) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
The Bulldogs continued to face adversity throughout the second game by allowing nine runs in the first three frames. The Redlands defense registered a pair of miscues as well, resulting in four unearned runs in the process.
In the bottom of the third inning, Carrasco helped Henson escape a jam by making a highlight-reel grab in no-man's-land beyond the right-field foul line for the third out of the inning.
This defensive effort seemed to spark the Bulldog offense in the top of the fourth stanza. After loading the bases, Santos came up with the goods once again, this time by uncorking a long single to score freshman designated player Lauren Hernandez (Littleton, CO), who had led off with a hit-by-pitch. Freshman third baseman Lali Garza (Granite Bay, CA) and Ang continued the rally by cashing in with runners in scoring position, as Garza hammered a two-RBI-double to center-field and Ang laid down an RBI-bunt-single.
Henson benefited from Redlands' big-inning momentum in the bottom of the fourth, as she retired 3-of-4 batters to keep the Bulldogs within six runs of the Regals.
In the top of the fifth inning, freshman shortstop Shannon Skrzynski (Pomona, CA) put more pressure on the defense to force another Regal error that helped freshman pinch-runner Beverlee Valerio (Monrovia, CA) across the dish, trimming the deficit to 4-9.
However, the Bulldogs struggled to gain any further ground on Cal Lutheran, eventually falling in five innings by a score of 4-12.
Sophomore pitcher Courtney Ludlow (Petaluma, CA) picked up the loss after scattering five hits and allowing three earned runs in 1.1 innings.
Garza finished the nightcap by going 1-for-3 with a double for two RBI, while King produced a two-hit showing with a pair of singles.
The Bulldogs (1-3, 0-2 SCIAC) continue on their SCIAC journey in Claremont on Friday, February 13, when they square off against the Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens in a 12:30 p.m. doubleheader.
