The University of Redlands softball team faced off against the Wildcats of Linfield College (OR) on Monday afternoon in a non-conference doubleheader on the "Field of Dreams." After dropping a difficult 0-11 game-one loss, the Maroon and Gray rallied to score a few runs in the night cap but came up short in the 5-14 decision.
The Wildcats took control early in both contests, earning an 11-0 lead after two innings in the second game.
Nonetheless, Redlands showed great resiliency and continued to battle. In the bottom of the third, junior first baseman Vicki King (Thousand Oaks, CA) led off with a blistering double down the left-field line. Freshman second baseman Haley Farr (Chino, CA) brought her home on a triple to left center to put the Bulldogs on the board. Freshman third baseman Lauren Hernandez (Littleton, CO) kept the rally rolling with an RBI-double to the same spot. With one out, freshman catcher Lali Garza (Granite Bay, CA) sliced a single up the middle to plate freshman pinch-runner Beverlee Valerio (Monrovia, CA), who ran for Hernandez.
After junior pitcher Lauren Henson (Highland, CA) retired the side in the subsequent two frames, the Bulldogs put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Freshman short stop Shannon Skrzynski (Pomona, CA) launched the fourth homerun of her young career to lead off the inning. Five batters later with two runners on, the Wildcats opted for a pitching change, which apparently created confusion on defense, as a routine fielder's choice to second base was not fielded, allowing junior center-fielder AJ Carrasco (Whittier, CA) to cross home plate for Redlands' fifth run of the game.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, their bats went quiet from here on, resulting in the lopsided loss.
Farr notched the only multi-hit game with a 2-for-3 showing.
Redlands (11-13, 5-9 SCIAC) returns to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action on Friday, March 27, when it hosts Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in a 3 p.m. doubleheader at the "Field of Dreams."
