LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. – The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) announced the 2023 Softball All-SCIAC awards and five Bulldogs made the first and second teams with Katlyn Gandara (Whittier, CA) being named SCIAC Pitcher of the Year (POY). Gandara was the lone 1st Team member with Alexis Campos (Lake Forest, CA) making the second team at first base, Isabella Culp (Hanford, CA) at catcher, Kalyn Kershner (Ewa Beach, HI) as the utility having played outfield and infield, and Natalie Horton (Palmdale, CA) at shortstop.
Gandara becomes the second Bulldog in program history to be named the Pitcher of the Year, joining Danielle Stallings from 2021. She finished the regular season with a 1.75 earned run average (ERA), good for the fifth best among SCIAC players. In SCIAC play she had a 1.62 ERA (6th) across 82.1 innings (3rd). Her season ERA of 1.75 would rank ninth in single-season program history and her four shutouts are tied for 10th most.
Campos makes the 2nd Team despite leading the SCIAC in batting average (.422), though, she was eighth in average in conference play (.356). Due to injury earlier in the season, she missed three of the 21 conference games.
In conference she had six doubles (T-4th), seven extra base hits (T-7th), a .426 on base percentage (9th), a .508 slugging percentage (9th), and 30 total bases (T-8th). This is her first All-SCIAC appearance.
Making All-SCIAC for the first time is Culp who had a fantastic offensive conference season in which she hit over .300 (.327) after finishing with a sub .250 average (.247) overall. Her conference average is the 14th highest. She also reached base at a .389 (16th) clip and slugged .408 (14th). Defensively she caught two runners stealing and was a part of two double plays.
On the second team in consecutive years is Kershner who played outfield and infield for the Bulldogs. She hit .333 (12th) in conference play and had 29 total bases (10th). On the season as a whole she drove in 28 runs, the most among SCIAC hitters.
The fourth member of the second team is Horton. She is now a two-time member, making the first team back in in 2021. Despite a lower average in conference play, Horton reached base at a .375 (19th) clip, 121 points higher than her average. She also stole five bases (T-8th), scored 17 runs (T-1st), walked 10 times (T-2nd), hit six doubles (T-4th), two triples (T-1st), and totaled nine extra base hits (T-3rd).
The Bulldogs were in a three way tie with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) and Chapman University for the SCIAC regular season title at 14-7. They are the No. 3 seed in the upcoming SCIAC Tournament after head-to-head tiebreakers were determined. Redlands plays at Claremont-M-S against Chapman University this Friday, May 12 at 3:30 p.m. in game one of the double elimination SCIAC Tournament.