The University of Redlands softball team defeated the University of St. Thomas (MN) by a 6-3 final Thursday afternoon in non-conference action at the Softball "Field of Dreams."
St. Thomas scored three runs with two outs in the top of the seventh to cut into Redlands' 6-0 advantage, but the Bulldog defense eventually cooled off the Tommies' hot bats to secure the victory.
Freshman leftfielder Sarah Beeman (Corona, CA) opened scoring in the first, driving in senior centerfielder Kayla Peterson (San Jose, CA) with a single to left. Sophomore second baseman Molly Duran (Corona, CA) added to the team's total in the fourth with an RBI base knock to right, which pushed across sophomore pinch runner Kai Masutani (Honolulu, HI).
The Maroon and Gray more than doubled its tally in the fifth when senior catcher Nicky Neumann (Fremont, CA) blasted a three-run shot over the leftfield fence. Freshman shortstop Kirsten Milliner (Torrance, CA) brought in sophomore rightfielder Kirstie Bender (Lakewood, CA) in the sixth to round out the team's scoring for the afternoon.
St. Thomas' Rachel Tondryk hit a two-run, inside-the-park home run as a pinch hitter in the seventh, while Erica Wilson singled up the middle to set the stage for a Sydney Marquardt RBI double that plated Wilson. In the ensuing at bat, Milliner cleanly fielded a ground ball and threw out Allison Wright to end the contest.
Senior pitcher Olivia Ellis (Colfax, CA) picked up the win, her 11th of the season, going the full seven innings while striking out six. She yielded three runs off seven hits and one walk.
Marta Radcliffe was saddled with the loss in the circle for the Tommies, scattering 11 hits while giving up six runs, four of which were earned, in six frames of work. Radcliffe also struck out a game-high nine batters.
The trio of Peterson, Milliner and Duran combined for six of the Maroon and Gray's 11 hits, while Wilson and Marquardt paced the Tommie attack with a pair of hits each.
Redlands (18-8, 11-1 SCIAC) continues on with its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) schedule Saturday (April 3) when it travels to Thousand Oaks to contest Cal Lutheran University in a doubleheader. Game one is slated for 12 noon.
